Rivers
by Doppler Effect
Summary: Water can flow many different ways and can take people places they didn't expect to go. It comes downward from high places that sometimes have never been seen before. Jack's life has been a river for a long time. A tributary is about to take him somewhere no one saw coming, but there are going to be a few others going to the same place. High school AU, based off one-shot "Runaway".
1. Chapter 1

**October 18. 5:00 AM**

The rain woke him up at five in the morning. Jack listened to the sound beating the roof for twenty minutes before finding the will to get up. He fumbled around in the dark for a while for clothes, not turning on the light for fear of searing his retinas from the sudden light. After falling twice with a dull thud and becoming increasingly convinced that someone was going to wake up cussing and yelling at "whoever was making that god-awful racket", he gave in and just sat back on his bed for a few more minutes. He was going to have to do some cleaning sometime soon.

Maybe not. After today, things would be a lot different. He had big plans for today.

He stayed on the bed, resting his elbows against his knees and staring at the blackness that was his floor (or whatever was on his floor… or _living_ on his floor…), for the next half hour. The sun started to brighten the curtains at the end of the thirty minutes and he began to move around the room again. Around the same time, he began to hear other sounds of life in the house. His parents were too tired at the moment to yell at each other, but that would change as soon as the first one had their cup of coffee or shower. Usually, it was at the same time. Ever since his father had lost his job, it'd gotten considerably worse.

He checked through his backpack to make sure he hadn't missed any homework before pulling out a book and killing time reading. The pages were intermittently broken up by shouts from downstairs. His mom should've been the one on the coffee advertisements. "Drink coffee! Punch your husband! Verbally abuse everyone under the roof!"

Welcome to the house of fun. Wipe your feet on the mat before you come in.

It was six forty-two the next time he checked the clock, and he left the book on his bed as he walked out of his room and down the hallway. It was sparsely decorated, and there were a few stains and dents they had never gotten around to covering up or repairing on the wallpaper. He passed his parents' room, which was now vacant, and the bathroom. He stopped outside of his sister's room and knocked lightly on the door. Like usual, there was no response, so he pushed the door open and flipped the light on.

This was the only neat room in the house. Everything had a specific place. If it was unnecessary, it wasn't in there. The room was practical, like his sister. She was sleeping, poised and perfect, on the bed. She was1on her back with her hands down by either side. It looked incredibly uncomfortable, but hey, he wasn't going to be the one complaining later on in the day if she was sore.

He stepped over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly. "Hey. Got to get up."

"No, I don't. It's Saturday."

"It's Thursday."

She dragged the pillow out from underneath her head and proceeded to beat him mercilessly with it for a few seconds. "Liar!" she moaned.

He grinned, hands up in defeat. His sister scowled at him. He enjoyed hassling her, but she absolutely hated him. He wasn't really sure why, either. About three years ago, the two had been out on a frozen pond in the backyard when the ice had begun to crack. Jack had managed to stop her from plummeting into the frozen waters, but he had ended up crashing through instead seconds later. He ended up in the infirmary for a few days with hypothermia. She had started avoiding him after that until, less than a year after the incident, it had become a total hate-love relationship. If he had to guess, it was probably because she liked being in control of the situation, and he reminded her of the one time she hadn't been.

Jack left the room and went down to the kitchen. His parents were both in there. His father was seated at the table, scowling down at his cup of coffee. His mother was… murdering pancakes in a pan. It was quite messy, and the forensics team would have a long day cleaning up the mess after the evidence had been gathered. They would undoubtedly find her guilty of pancake murder for the trial.

This crime was caused by her lack of attention to the simple task in front of her. She was too busy yelling over her shoulder at her husband about the taxes not being paid, too much money spent on beer, and savings money being taken out of the bank without cause. Jack tuned it out. It was the same rant she did every day. Considering it was a routine by now, he suspected his father was also ignoring it.

The teen grabbed an apple and made a quick sandwich before fleeing back up to his bedroom before anything was thrown around the room. It probably wouldn't hurt if it hit him, but he'd have to change clothes.

He stayed up in his room until seven. School started at eight, but it was a good excuse to get out of the house. He grabbed his backpack and walked downstairs. His sister was eating her breakfast at the table. Their "father figure" was already gone, out looking for job opportunities, and their mother was on a required break. She was cleaning up the pancake mess and disposing of all evidence of the crime.

She glanced at him as he walked towards the door. "Off for school?"

"Yep. Hey, I've got a project to work on with some friends tonight, so I might not be back at the normal time," he said, turning to face her.

She nodded, scrubbing the pan with a soapy dishrag. "Okay. If they need you to spend the night there, that's fine."

He nodded his thanks, and waved before turning and leaving. It was four miles to the school, but he had time and shortcuts. The walk only took about forty minutes because of all the shortcuts he took, and he was disappointed to find he still had time to kill before the school building would even open. Jack sat down on the sidewalk, set his backpack down, took out his book, and continued reading.

The school was a small one, not covering much space. The elementary school and middle school were across the street, but in opposite directions from each other and diagonal to the school. The administration building was planted between the two and directly across from the high school. All of the buildings were short, squat, ugly buildings that hadn't been rebuilt since the 90's. There were multiple fire hazards in each, but as long as they weren't reported, they apparently weren't a problem.

A few other stragglers had begun appearing, lounging around on benches outside the school or on the curb. Jack had purposefully avoided the benches so he didn't have to deal with anyone else who wanted to sit down near him. Unfortunately, though, one of those who fell into the 'anyone else' category was walking towards him now.

Pitch Black was one of those poor kids who had a last name that could be the source of so many puns for a first name. He had turned from a dull kid as a kindergartner to a cunning and manipulative teenager. Pitch was also the only reason Jack always regretted coming up to the school early. He usually had to deal with listening to the taller boy make snide comments and sarcastic quips at everything he could.

"Frost, Frost, Frost," Pitch sighed, leaning against the light post beside Jack. "I've told you, I could wash your clothes if you wanted. Is that the second time you've worn that shirt this week, or the third? I stopped counting."

"I remember that part of your comment," Jack started, and then paused as he lost his place on the page. He frowned, found it again, and then continued, "Included that I stick around to help you with your essays for English."

"Helping's not so bad, is it?"

"It is when it translates into doing the entire thing for you."

"Maybe not the _entire_ thing-"

"Pitch, go bother the third graders across the street. They'll be more interested in what you have to say."

Pitch began to snap back a comment, but was quickly interrupted. "You 'eard 'im; beat it," the new voice snapped. Pitch shot a look at the newcomer, but Jack already knew who it was. He had seen the shoes coming his way and immediately known who it was. No one else in the school had feet so large. Aster Bunnymund glared at Pitch to further get his point across.

Pitch whipped around and stalked off, not in the mood for a confrontation, it seemed, with the much taller teenager. Aster waited a few seconds to make sure he was really gone before turning sharply and dropping down quickly to sit next to Jack. The latter was a bit surprised he didn't bruise anything doing so, but Aster always moved with a sort of bounce and never seemed to get injury from the sudden movements and quick reflexes. Anyone else certainly would've.

Aster reached up and grabbed the edge of Jack's hoodie, yanking it down to reveal his face. "Hey, if people knew it was you sittin' here, they might actually come talk to you."

"Yeah, like who?" Jack snapped back, flipping the hood up again. "Go away."

Aster grunted. "This is the last place I wanna be, trust me. I can' even believe I'm about to ask this, but no one else I know in our class even sorta understood yesterday's class and homework in Trig. Did ya get it?"

Jack looked at him stupidly for a few seconds.

"That a no?"

"Isn't it obvious?" was Jack's immediate answer.

"… No," Aster replied slowly.

Jack groaned, burying his face in the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "God save me from morons who were texting in class."

"How d'ya-?" Aster demanded. He knew he'd had the phone hidden.

"Because you kept glancing down. It was obvious. I'm not re-teaching the lesson for you if you didn't even try to pay attention."

Aster shifted awkwardly. "Death in the fam'ly. Grandpa. Tryin' to stop my Mom from totally freakin' out."

Jack was silent for a few moments before sighing and giving in. "Alright. How much of it did you understand?"

"Not a lot."

Jack pulled out his book and started leafing through it to the page they had ended on. "Alright, so this is how the book teaches it. But the book's kind of stupid in this chapter, because there's a much easier method to do it…"

He spent the next twenty minutes trying to teach one of the people he hated most in school yesterday's entire Trigonometry lesson. Aster seemed to catch on pretty quickly, but still had to get through the actual math problems. He got half of them from the back of the book and worked the rest out as quickly as he could without completely messing up the process Jack had just explained to him. By the end of it, Jack was just staring off into space while the extremely tall Aussie next to him was hurriedly scribbling problems down on paper.

After today, he wasn't going to have a need for these feuds with kids. He was getting away from this. Far away. He wasn't ever going to come back.

Usually, that thought would've brought a smile to his lips. It had for the last few weeks. Something felt off, though. It wasn't comforting today like it should've been. There were haunting thoughts, ones of doubt, lingering in his head this time.

His fingernails dug into his palm as he considered this. After all the time he had spent planning out how he was going to do this, he was having doubts now? This was supposed to make him feel better, not worse!

Aster kicked him. "Hey, man, you alright?" His accent made the last part nearly unintelligible as it slurred 'you alright' into 'ya'lright'.

Jack looked at him sharply in surprise, coming out of his reverie. "What? Yeah, fine." He glanced at his watch. "Let's get to class. The bell's going to ring any minute now." He shoved his books back into his bag and walked to the school doors.

He didn't hear Aster hesitantly mutter, "Thanks."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 18. 9:16 AM**

He jerked slightly as he woke up, worried more about the soreness in his neck than the fact that he was still tired. Jack groaned silently to himself, burying his face in his hands. He raised his head so he was simply cupping his chin with his palms. The teacher, Mr. Watson, didn't care. He had never even sent a sideways glance to Jack whenever he slept in his class. All the teacher cared about was that Jack turned his work in on time and got good grades.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aster leaning back into his seat with a pencil in his hand. It seemed like he'd jabbed Jack to wake him up. Jack turned around slightly to raise an eyebrow at him. Aster pointed to the board in way of explanation, and Jack saw Mr. Watson beginning to lay out and explain the beginnings of an essay they were going to have to write. Jack turned around to fully face the board. He bet Aster had only done that so they were even now. The two rarely spoke if it wasn't to poke fun at each other. He wasn't sure why they never agreed on anything. They just didn't.

Homework. He wasn't going to miss that when he left.

Jack smiled to himself, hiding it by dropping his chin back into the palm of his hand and covering his mouth with his fingers, as if in an absent gesture. It looked like his idea was making him feel better again. He was glad to have that feeling back.

He wrote the layout for the sake of the teacher in case he walked around. Mr. Watson gave them the rest of class to begin working on the paper. Jack pulled out a notebook and began writing. He had another project that he needed to work on immediately. This homework was never going to be turned in, so he didn't see any reason to even bother starting on it. He scribbled out a few names on the paper and wrote something by each. It would probably take a few days, but the tall, lanky teen sitting diagonally from him would learn his name was on the paper. Thinking of what his expression would look like when he found out why made Jack smile all over again.

The bell rang about ten minutes later, and by then, he had finished his 'assignment'. He packed his things up and headed to his next class.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 18. 3:00 PM**

The day had ended, and Jack was walking out of the building with a heavy backpack and arms full of binders when he was ambushed by the most likely suspect. Aster more or less appeared beside him, snatching most of the binders from Jack's hands. The younger was about to protest and flinched visibly at the sudden movement, but let it go when he saw Aster was just helping and not looking through them. The Australian didn't look too happy and seemed to be just doing it because he wanted to have something to do at the moment.

"Thanks fer helpin' me out this mornin'," Aster muttered. "Didn' think ya heard me earlier."

"Didn't, actually," Jack admitted. Did this mean Aster had thanked him _twice_? Wow.

"It helped a lot today. Did ya notice most of the kids strugglin'?"

"Yeah. I can't believe she actually managed to go over that many homework problems and then still get through the next lesson. We're going to be the only two who can actually get tonight's done, I'll bet."

"Prob'ly." Aster shifted the binders' weight in his arm. "What's with all this?"

"You'll find out soon," Jack replied easily.

Aster rolled his eyes, as if wishing he hadn't even asked. He was only carrying the Trigonometry book home and didn't seem to mind walking with Jack.

"Look, just get out whatever you have to say."

"What'da mean?"

"Aster, we hate each other. What's up?"

"Jus'… wonderin' if you were gonna start tutorin' back up at our school."

Jack shot him a confused look. "Me?"

"Yeah. You get it better'n anyone else, even some a' the teachers. The kids could really use yer help. The tutorin' program's been down fer a few years 'cause the tutors stopped comin;. I think you could start it up again."

Jack eyed him. "Okay, now I'm worried. Where's this coming from?"

Aster shrugged, honestly not knowing. "Jus' thought you'd be good at it."

Jack looked forward again. "I can't. Something else is in the way. But I know someone who'd love to help the others and has the power to do so. He just doesn't know it yet, but I'll ask him if he'd like to try it out."

Aster grudgingly nodded. Jack doubted he had asked about this for himself. Aster was probably one of the best students in Mrs. Brendan's class. Unlike Jack, this teen was a guy who truly looked out for others.

"Don't you need to turn off somewhere to go home?" Jack asked, wondering just how far this guy was going to go with him.

"As soon as we get there, nimrod," Aster grumbled.

"Just wondering." The conversation was becoming a bit awkward, so Jack decided to make it even more so. "Hey, um, thanks for waking me up for the essay. I'd kind of be screwed if you hadn't."

"I know," Aster responded. "Tired?"

"Yeah. Woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep."

"Yer _always_ asleep in his class."

"I'm almost always tired. Been working on something, and my parents keep me up a lot, too."

"What do yer parents need ya for?"

"They don't keep me up on purpose. They're just… loud… sometimes." He let Aster make of that what he would. It wasn't going to matter, because he wasn't going to see him ever again after Aster went his own way to go home. Aster was frowning, not sure if he was supposed to assume Jack's parents were just very passionate about each other or if there were anger management issues in the house. Jack didn't say anything to suggest that it might be both.

"Well, try an' get some sleep," Aster said, kind of lamely. "Hey, it's yer birthday today, ain't it?"

"How'd you…?"

"Sandy told me," Aster replied. "Well, you know, in his way." The short friend of Aster's didn't speak. It was a biological condition he'd been born with. The kid couldn't make a sound.

Jack knew Sandy vaguely, but couldn't for the life of him figure out how Sandy would've known that his birthday was today. He decided some things were just left to be mysteries, and didn't ask any further questions about it.

"Okay… What's it matter, anyway?"

"Jus'… Don' know, actu'lly." A few seconds later, he added, "Hey, I leave here." He pointed down a side road leading off the main street they were walking on. He looked a bit hesitant and was eyeing the mass of stuff Jack was carrying. "Yer house isn't too far away. I can walk ya the res' of the way back, if ya want."

"I'm fine."

"Yer gonna get scoliosis or somethin'."

"Not today." Jack smiled unexpectedly at the gesture of kindness from Aster. He tried to force the smile back down without making it obvious, but was fighting a losing battle. He held out a hand for the rest of the binders, and Aster handed them over. They stood there awkwardly for a second, neither sure if it was socially appropriate for them just to turn around and leave. Jack looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.

After another second, he forced off whatever train of thought he had had, nodded at Aster, and turned around and walked away. Aster barely paused before walking towards home.

Jack pondered the turn in Aster's personality towards him for a few seconds before deciding to ignore it. He wasn't going to need Aster for what he was about to do, so there was no reason to think about him. It would just be a distraction from what had to be done.

The road had houses on both sides, but they were sparse and loosely packed together. Jack passed between two of them, walking to the heavily wooded area behind them. Within a few minutes of walking in, he could no longer see the houses he had just walked through. The trees were large and beautiful, turning colors in the late fall. The ground was a covering of warm colors, ranging from reds to yellows to light purples. The air smelled wonderful and fresh. There would be no one to pester him here.

He continued walking until he heard the familiar humming of the river. He had walked in a large circle around his house, avoiding it as best as he could. Jack didn't want to go anywhere near that place. He absolutely hated that house. The river was going to take him far away from here. It ran swiftly and strongly for a few miles before plunging into a reservoir. It didn't seem like a great distance, but to him, it would be. He'd never been very far out of town before, and he wanted to be gone.

His house was upriver from here. If he accidentally dropped something, there was absolutely no way any of them could learn about it and foil it. Already, he could feel his heart beginning to pound. He was excited, and he definitely didn't want to be stopped.

Jack jogged a ways down the river awkwardly, carrying the binders as tightly as he could. He slowed when he saw the footbridge he had been looking for. It was about six feet above the river, the safest distance for it to be at. When the river flooded, it sometimes would almost completely cover the bridge's supports. The bridge would barely stay above water.

Jack walked onto the wide bridge, setting down the stack of binders. He dropped his backpack next to it. Jack sighed, stretching his arms to loosen up the muscles. Now that he was actually here, it was a bit surreal. It had taken so much planning, and he had finally gotten to the climax of it all.

With barely a pause, he stepped to the railing of the bridge, peering down into the water. He hated water like this, honestly. It reminded him too much of the pond. He couldn't see the bottom, and that was really the only similarity, but it still gave him the shivers. That's why it was perfect.

He looked back at the backpack and binders. There was no real reason to arrange them in any special way, so he decided to forgo even making it look neat. Someone would be more likely to stop and look if it appeared to have just been dropped, too.

With a smile, Jack looked back down to the river.

_Free…_

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 19. 11:35 AM**

Aster met Nick the next day at lunch, not sitting down but standing and placing both his hands on the table across from his friend. The other teenager barely looked at him, too focused on his lunch. The other two who usually sat with them had yet to arrive. "Nick, 'ave ya seen Jack?"

Nick paused in his eating and looked up at Aster. "Jack?"

"Frost. Jack Frost. Seen 'im?"

"No… He wasn't in homeroom, now you mention it…"

Aster took his hands off the table, leaning back in confusion. "I can' find 'im anywhere. I don' think he's at school today."

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, I needed to talk to 'im about somethin'. He told me he knew someone who would tutor, but I don' know who it was."

"Ask later."

"Yeah, but I don' want 'im to forget an' then go back on his promise."

Nick shrugged. Aster turned and navigated his way through the tables and out of the cafeteria. Nick stared at after him, puzzled, but gave up trying to figuring it out and went back to his meal.

Aster trekked down to the office for an answer. If Jack wasn't there, he would've had to have called in to avoid an unexcused absence on his report card. He opened the door and walked in. The secretaries seemed to be upset about something, and were talking to a few teachers. Mrs. Brendan was among the group. Aster recognized the principal, Mr. Vanesburg, as well.

Mr. Vanesburg looked up as the door opened. "Aster. Can you come into my office for a minute?"

Aster froze momentarily. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything wrong. Actually, good or bad, he couldn't see any reason he needed to be in the principal's office at all…

But the offer was being made, so he walked in after Mr. Vanesburg.

The office was sparsely furnished, probably because anything would make the room look worse than it already did. A police officer was waiting in the room, hands clasped in front of him. Aster, becoming even more wary, sat down on the cheap chair across from the desk in the office. Mr. Vanesburg sat down on the office chair and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "I'm sorry, this is just… We never expected this to ever happen." He glanced over at the police officer.

The officer nodded, taking over. He looked at Aster and gently asked, "Our sources said you walked home with Jack Frost yesterday afternoon."

Aster nodded.

"Can you tell us what happened that day?"

"Well, we don' usu'lly get along… but yes'erday mornin', I had to talk to 'im fer help on Trig homework. No one in class got it but 'im. He's great at math. Best'a any of us, I'd say." He realized he was fumbling and tried to straighten out what he was saying. "He helped me, and then we went to class. He fell asleep durin' English, which he usu'lly does, so I hit him with my pencil to wake 'im up, since he'd helped me out that mornin'… Uh, then later, I didn' think I'd really said thanks for the homework help, and I kinda wanted to get it over wi' so it didn' bite me in the butt later, so I waited for 'im outside of school and walked home wi' him. He had a bunch of binders wi' 'im, which was really weird, and his backpack was tot'lly full. I walked as far wi' 'im as I could until we got ta the place where I needed to 'ead 'ome from. Last I saw of 'im." Aster looked between the officer and Mr. Vanesburg quickly. "Actu'lly, I came up to the office 'cause I was wonderin' if he was sick today or somethin'… I was gonna talk to 'im about tutorin', but I can' find him at school…"

A knot clenched up in his stomach as he watched the expressions of the two adults. Mr. Vanesburg closed his eyes, trying to control his breath. He looked like Aster had just broken his heart with something he had said. The officer just looked mournful.

The officer swallowed, and asked, "Can you describe how he acted when you last saw him?"

"Ah, seemed… Well, it was kinda awkward 'cause we never really get along… He seemed happy about somethin', though… I kept askin' about the binders, but he just smiled an' told me I'd find out within a few days."

Mr. Vanesburg stood up abruptly and left the room. Aster followed him with his eyes, confused. Then he turned around quickly, looking at the officer. The officer looked regretfully at Aster, before taking a few steps closer. "I'm sorry I have to tell you this," the officer said hesitantly. "A woman biking this morning found an abandoned backpack on the bridge over James Creek. She opened it up to see if she could find out whom it belonged to and found this on top."

The officer handed the note to Aster. Aster took it quickly, scanning the words.

"_I'm sorry to whoever finds this note. Just know that this was going to happen no matter what." _

The officer looked broken-hearted as Aster looked up at him. Aster was shaking his head vehemently. "This can' be ri', Jack's not dead-"

The officer sighed. "We're still looking for a body. It may have already gotten swept out into the reservoir, though."

They'd already given up. They thought he was dead.

"Look, he's always grinnin' and causin' mischief. There's no _reason_ fer 'im to… He was actin' completely happy yes'erday!"

The officer shook his head. "Usually, when they near the date when they're going to do it, they seem to rise out of a depression and become happier. It's because they know it'll be over soon."

"_Usually, I'd leave something to my parents here, but frankly, they own it already. You two get to deal with most of the crap in my room. Sorry. I tried to clean up, but I've never been good at that sort of thing." _

"Jack 'ates water! If he killed 'imself, he'd never do it like this. He got pushed into the pool once and completely freaked out. I-I think 'e almost froze to death in a pond, and he's never gotten over it."

"I'm sorry, but that's what we found. Listen, under the circumstances, no one expects you to be back in school and doing homework. We spoke to your parents already, and they said it'd be fine if you stayed at the station for a while in case something comes in."

Aster nodded, standing up to go get his stuff.

"It's up to you on whether or not you want to tell any of your friends what happened," the officer said. "You were the only one mentioned on the note who wasn't family, so if you want to tell any of his friends…"

"He doesn't have any," Aster replied numbly.

"_Sis. You're going to do great things. Keep going, okay?"_

Aster woke up in the station a few hours later with his head pillowed by his arms on the desk of the officer from the school. The man had left earlier for home. He'd wanted to stay, but the police chief had shooed him off, taking in how tired the poor officer had been. No one came up and talked to Aster, but whether it was out of politeness or awkwardness, he didn't know. Someone would hesitantly bring him coffee occasionally, taking pity on the poor child's determination to wait until the official word came in.

Jack's sister was sitting in the chair of the officer who had left. She had leaned back and was fast asleep, mouth open slightly. Aster didn't have the heart to wake her. The two had been talked uneasily before, but with the little that Aster knew about Jack, it quickly just became silence. He didn't know where the parents were.

An officer approached them with a carefully blank expression. Aster reached over and tapped Jack's sister's knee to wake her up. She jerked slightly, sitting up straight and opening her eyes. She focused on the officer.

"We found his body washed up on a coast of the reservoir," the officer said slowly. "We tried to resuscitate him, but… he was already dead."

"_Aster Bunnymund. I've kept a bunch of binders over the years as I studied math. They're full of all the tricks I picked up. There's a few more hidden in the abyss of crap that is my room. I'd tell you where they are, but I'm not completely sure myself. Good luck finding them. My sister's great at organizing things – maybe she can help you find them. If you want anything else in the room, feel free to take it. It's not like anyone else is going to want it."_

Jack's sister was crying into her hands, not even trying to hide it. Aster was shaking his head vehemently.

"I'm sorr-"

"_He can' be dead! '_E wouldn' leave me anythin'…_ I barely knew 'im!_"

"Aster, the body's been a bit… damaged from the rocks in the river, but it's him."

"It's someone else… It c-can' be 'im-m…"

The police officer looked at him regretfully. Aster continued trying to tell the officer he was wrong, but could barely get the words out past a bad stutter. He wiped away tears at the corners of his eye harshly. The officer put a hand on his shoulder for a second and then walked out the door to let the two children grieve on their own.

_Oh, Aster… Thanks for waking me up. I might've missed our next class, Trig, if you hadn't. Get the tutoring going, okay? You'll do a great job._

_-Jack_

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

_Rewind_

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

**October 18. 3:00 AM**

Aster groaned as he woke up, rubbing a hand across his tired face. He glanced at the digital clock beside his bed and groaned when he saw the time. Three AM. Wasn't this the twilight hour?

He rubbed the side of his head as he tried to go back to sleep. He still had Trigonometry homework, didn't he? Yes, he did. There was no way he was going to get it done before school started without some help.

Well. He could hope, couldn't he?

* * *

a/n: I do not own Rise of the Guardians.

If any readers here live in or are Australian or Russian, please help! I suck at accents. I can't even _write_ accents. HELP!

Please note that there is more than one chapter. Don't think this is a one-shot. It's not.


	2. Chapter 2

**October 18. 6:35 AM**

Aster hung up after an hour of trying to convince his mother's friend that everything was okay. He had settled in to just listening to her cry and moan for a good long while before gently telling her he still had Trigonometry homework to get finished. He had made some calls the night before, but no one seemed to understand it. On general principles, it was hard, but their teacher had had a cold and had been barely audible.

He spent the next forty minutes trying to work on it. At the end of that time, he glanced at the clock, and had to admit to himself that he had made absolutely no progress whatsoever. The clock held the answer to all his problems, though. He had a bit less than an hour before school started, but he knew someone who would know how to solve these problems. It was going to take some bending of his pride, though. The options were deal with his nemesis… or completely fail this homework grade and the upcoming quiz.

So he decided to suck it up.

Ten minutes later, he had breakfast in his stomach, his math book under his arm, and was out the door. He could hear the occasional bird and car, but other than that, there weren't many sounds this early in the morning. If he listened closely enough, there was the comforting thundering of the river that knocked through the woods in the forest behind his house. The river had always been a favorite memory of his during his childhood, but it was a double edged sword. He'd heard horror stories of a few people who had tested the waters and found the current too strong; it was said that at least five had drowned.

The walk to school was short, made even quicker than normal because of his increased walking pace. He arrived at the building a few minutes after setting out, already regretting his decision to do this. His annoyance was furthered when he saw the only person he disliked more than Jack Frost – Pitch Black – standing over the smaller teen and apparently railing him with statements.

He had no clue what their conversation was about, and he truly didn't care. All he knew was that Pitch was in his way, and he better move. He caught the last few sentences as he walked up.

"…into doing the entire thing for you."

"Maybe not the _entire_ thing-"

It seemed Jack and Aster had something in common that day, because they both had no tolerance for the dark-haired senior. "Pitch, go bother the third graders across the street. They'll be more interested in what you have to say." Pitch humored Aster by whipping around and snarling briefly at him. Aster gave him a cool glare in return, dismissing the older boy's words before he even opened his mouth. Pitch decided to not fight the already lost battle and retreated.

As soon as he did, it occurred to Aster that the only reason he was doing so was because he knew he was leaving Aster and Jack in each other's company – which was only slightly better than having to deal with Pitch.

He might as well get it over with. He turned sharply and sat down next to Jack. The younger hadn't even looked up during the exchange between the other two, and most likely hadn't even seen anything because of that blasted hood of his. To vent his irritation, Aster reached up and tore it down from his head. A mess of brown hair spilled out from underneath. "Hey, if people knew it was you sittin' here, they might actually come talk to you." Not much for a conversation starter.

"Yeah, like who?" Touché. Jack had no friends Aster had ever seen him with. "Go away."

Now came the hard part. "This is the last place I wanna be, trust me. I can' even believe I'm about to ask this, but no one else I know in our class even sorta understood yesterday's class and homework in Trig. Did ya get it?"

One look at Jack's expression made his few hopes plummet. Yep, he was going to fail this assignment.

To his surprise, it only took a few minutes to convince Jack to help him. In a corner of his mind, he tucked this bit of information away. Math could apparently create a temporary bridge with which to reach the anti-socialite. Aster doubted he'd ever have to resurrect this bridge again once it fell, but he might as well keep this tidbit around just in case.

Jack explained the lesson even better than Mrs. Brendan had. It wasn't like that was hard, considering her performance yesterday, but it was still kind of sad.

Aster had been working with several of the teachers to try to bring back the tutoring program. It was still just an idea, but the principal was liking the idea more and more. All they really needed to do was get the kids involved. Aster contemplated mentioning this to Jack as he worked on some of the problems, but backed out at the last minute. He could mention it later. Besides, it wasn't like they were getting chummy or anything…

He glanced over at Jack to ask if he'd done this problem right. He saw a mess of nerves and taut lines when he did. Jack's entire body was rigid and stiff. His fingernails were digging into his own hand, but he didn't seem to be noticing. His gaze had hardened, focusing on something that Aster couldn't see.

The position kind of freaked out Aster. So he kicked Jack.

The hand unclenched, letting his palm get some respite. His body unlocked, muscles loosening up as he turned to face Aster in surprise. "Hey, man, ya'lright?"

Jack's eyes narrowed slightly in a mixture of annoyance and… something else. "What? Yeah, fine." Jack shot a look at his watch, and Aster realized that he had completely forgotten they were sitting outside of the school for a reason. "Let's get to class. The bell's going to ring any minute now." He gathered his stuff together and left Aster for the school.

It took all of his humility to muster the syllables together and then a promise to himself that he would not interact at all with Jack for a few days straight to say it, but he pushed out the word, "Thanks."

And even after all that, Jack didn't hear him because he was already gone.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 18. 11:30 AM**

He had already broken his promise to himself by Trig because he'd had to wake up the kid so he could get his assignment. He looked like he needed the sleep, but he also was going to need his homework if he wanted to keep up his grade. It looked like the essay was going to be worth quite a bit of points.

Jack got what little sleep he missed out on in English during Trig, because more than half of the class was going over yesterday. Now that she had her voice back, Mrs. Brendan was back to being as short and concise as possible, and got through the entire next lesson before the end of the class period. Aster felt like he understood it this time, and made sure to knock on Jack's desk lightly to wake him up while he filed out of the classroom.

He took his Trig book to lunch and sat down at his usual table. He was through the fifth problem when Nick sat down. There were no less than three Nicks in his homeroom (not including the Nick currently in his presence), two in Trig (only one was in his homeroom as well), and four in his biology class. It was nothing short of ridiculous. As a result, all nine Nicks in their sophomore year went by different names and made sure to put their last names on any assignments. Because of his Russian accent, this Nick went by North.

"Did he help?" North asked, nodding at the book.

Aster grunted. "Yeah. Had ta pry talking outta him at first, but once we started talkin' about math, he was all for it."

"Thinking about asking if he wants to tutor?"

"Thinkin'. Not sure yet. He ain't exactly got people skills."

A scribbling sound came from beside Aster, and he jumped when he noticed Sandy sitting beside him. How he'd missed the blond hair sticking out in every direction, he didn't know. The shorter teenager finished what he was writing quickly and showed Aster the paper.

_Birthday_.

"Birthday… Yours?"

Sandy shook his head, pointed at Aster and North, and then brought his thumb and other four fingers together to mimic talking.

"Our conversation."

Nod.

"Jack's birthday?" North guessed. Sandy nodded excitedly.

"How d'ya even…?" Aster gave up mid-sentence as Sandy gave him a mystical expression and raised his eyebrow. Aster groaned, rubbing his forehead with his fingers. "Whatever."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 18. 3:00 PM**

He shoved his books from his last class of the day into his locker, taking only his Trig book with him. He was probably going to get the homework done quickly. Last night had been a one-time incident with him not understanding.

Aster passed Jack's locker in the hall with a twang of guilt. For whatever reason, he felt like he had just leeched off the other kid this morning and was discarding him now that he had no need for him. On his birthday, too. Damn it, Sandy!

His steps slowed drastically as he walked through the hallways until he was just standing in place at the school's entrance. He sighed and moved out of the flow of traffic to lean against the wall. Jack walked out a few seconds later, back bent from the crap ton of stuff he had in his bag and arms full of binders. Aster stepped out, keeping pace easily with Jack. While the other jumped slightly in surprise, Aster reached out and nabbed the binders in his hand. Jack let them go uneasily, not sure what the Aussie wanted with them. He must have seen the grudging look on his expression and decided to just keep quiet.

Before the silence got extremely awkward, Aster broke it. "Thanks fer helpin' me out this mornin'. Didn' think ya heard me earlier." He couldn't believe he was actually saying this…

"Didn't, actually."

That was good. They weren't going to be turning a new leaf of friendship over, then. The apocalypse wasn't happening just yet. This was enough prompting for Aster to be able to get out another sentence, coupled with dry humor. "It helped a lot today. Did ya notice most of the kids strugglin'?"

"Yeah. I can't believe she actually managed to go over that many homework problems and then still get through the next lesson. We're going to be the only two who can actually get tonight's done, I'll bet," Jack replied. Aster was a bit relieved that he wasn't the only one who'd had that opinion.

"Prob'ly. What's with all this?" Aster motioned downwards to the heavy weight in his arms. He could carry this without a problem, but he had no idea how Jack had been planning to carry _all _of this home. The kid wasn't exactly a heavy weight.

"You'll find out soon." That response meant one of three things: it was embarrassing, it was too complicated, or there was rivalry getting in between him and answering. It could also be all three. Aster smirked on the inside, finding that to be a powerful reason for him to pressure the answer out of Jack. On the outside, he simply rolled his eyes. He was about to add on a comment, but Jack beat him to it.

"Look, just get out whatever you have to say." He seemed a bit frustrated, actually.

Aster glanced at him in surprise. "What'da mean?"

"Aster, we hate each other. What's up?"

It wasn't like he was the master of subtlety or anything. His attempt hadn't exactly been a masterful attempt at deception.

"Jus'… wonderin' if you were gonna start tutorin' back up at our school." Jack wasn't going to say yes; he was too antisocial for that. Sandy wouldn't be able to complain to him later, though. Aster had at least made the offer.

"Me?" Jack was thinking the same thing Aster was.

"Yeah. You get it better'n anyone else, even some a' the teachers. The kids could really use yer help. The tutorin' program's been down fer a few years 'cause the tutors stopped comin;. I think you could start it up again," Aster explained. Okay, so more than a little of that was exaggerate, but still.

A few minutes more of conversation passed. Jack turned down the offer, as expected, but he said he'd ask someone else if they want to do it. That part _hadn't_ been expected, but was welcomed at the very least. Their conversation was quickly just becoming a bunch of words they were scrambling together for the sake of not walking miles in silence.

"Hey, um, thanks for waking me up for the essay. I'd be kind of screwed if you hadn't," Jack said awkwardly. His expression mirrored Aster's when he had been saying thanks.

"I know. Tired?"

"Yeah. Woke up early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep."

That had to have been the worst excuse Aster had ever heard. So he said so. "Yer _always_ asleep in his class."

"I'm almost always tired. Been working on something, and my parents keep me up a lot, too." Jack fumbled slightly over stating that he had a project, but the second part of the last sentence came out with dry wit.

"What do yer parents need ya for?" He couldn't really imagine a need for his parents to make him do something in the middle of the night that couldn't be done during the day.

Jack began to flush. "They don't keep me up on purpose. They're just… loud… sometimes."

Too much info.

"Well, try an' get some sleep," Aster replied, trying to cover his embarrassment. He pushed the topic in another direction quickly. "Hey, it's yer birthday today, ain't it?"

"How'd you…?"

"Sandy told me. Well, you know, in his way." Aster shrugged slightly, but Jack didn't catch the motion. The Aussie wasn't entirely sure if the other knew Sandy very well, but Sandy was pretty well known because of his uniqueness. From Jack's expression, he at least knew of who Aster was talking about.

"Okay… What's it matter, anyway?"

Because that's the entire reason we're having this conversation, Aster thought dryly to himself. "Jus… Don' know, actu'lly. Hey, I leave here." He gestured to the road he lived on, but then his gaze caught back on the heavy binders in his arms. Was Jack going to be able to make it home with all this? "Yer house isn't too far away. Can walk ya the res' of the way back, if ya want."

"I'm fine."

"Yer gonna get scoliosis or something," Aster pointed out, expecting a snarky response that would forever end this limited relationship and any further attempts at civilized conversation.

What he definitely wasn't expecting was a smile. "Not today." He took the binders back from Aster, struggling to wipe the expression off his face. There was an awkward pause as they continued standing there for a few seconds too long. Jack opened his mouth slightly like he was going to say something, probably to continue their conversation. Before any sound came out, though, Jack nodded at Aster, turned on his heel, and started to walk home.

"Hey, Jack," Aster said before he could stop himself. Jack paused briefly, appearing anxious to get home. He probably had loads of work to do, judging from his load. "I was gonna ta head ta the movies on Saturday with North an' Sandy-" from Jack's expression, he didn't know North, "-but North has to go help his uncle an' aunt repaint their house. Sandy an' I were gonna to call it off, since it would just be the two of us, but if we had a third…"

Why did he open his big mouth?

Apparently, Jack was asking himself the same question, because he was gaping at Aster.

"Uh…" He closed his mouth, gathered his thoughts – partially – and said, "Sure." Then he paused, reconsidered, and amended, "Wait, no. I don't think I'll be in the state. My parents are taking me up north to drive in the ice and snow. My dad believes in the walk-before-you-run approach to things."

Aster frowned slightly. "Are ya even old enough-?"

Jack snorted. "Pf, no. It's not like he cares." He looked slightly remorseful, and said, "Sorry."

Aster shrugged. "Figured it was a last-minute long shot anyway."

Jack nodded in a combination of agreement and confusion before muttering a quick goodbye, another apology, and turning around to practically flee home from the bizarreness of that conversation.

Aster frowned in confusion, but then let it be. He turned, arms a bit stiff from the load, and started down the street. A school bus was making its rounds, and dropped a few kids off at the street corner Aster had just left. It was a group of giggling girls, all probably headed to a slumber party at one of their houses.

He would have liked nothing better to put that awkward walk home out of his mind, but something about the departure bothered him. It wasn't only his actions, because he hadn't started it. He'd only opened his mouth because of Jack's expression. Right when he'd been about to leave the first time, he had been about to say something. But he had looked… sad. And confused, and angry, and upset… but mostly, his expression was one of quiet sadness.

The thought had flashed through Aster's mind that maybe he was just lonely. Hence the invitation.

There was something wrong with Jack. He hadn't been acting like himself at all. Aster's word choice had been off, too, but that was because he wasn't sure how to talk to the other teenager without throwing insults back and forth.

Aster sighed as he reached his front door, pushing the matter to the back of his mind. He could deal with that later. For now… Trigonometry.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 18. 4:47 PM**

Sandy opened the door about twenty minutes later. He blinked at Aster's irritated expression.

"I need to talk to you about Jack," Aster grumbled.

Sandy nodded, a bit confused, but closed the door behind him as he walked out onto the porch. The pair went around to the backyard and sat down on a pair of swings that were hanging off a tree limb. The forest's edge met Sandy's backyard just a few meters away from them, and Aster knew from experience that it could be pretty creepy back here at night. He scuffed his feet against the torn up dirt beneath his swing. Sandy tilted his head at him, still not sure what was going on.

"So, you know he helped me out with homework this morning," Aster said, speaking in barely more than a mutter. "I didn' really say thanks, so I met him after school and walked a ways with 'im because we 'ave to do down the same road, right?"

Sandy nodded, not completely sure where this was going.

"When we were about to go different ways, he just looked… sad. And it just slipped out. I asked if he wanted to go to the movies with us."

Sandy smiled briefly, flashing him two thumbs-up. Aster returned the smile before going back to his narrative.

"He said he was busy, but… I don' know. It just bothered me." He shrugged. "An'… I told 'im he was going to get scoliosis from carrying all these binders, but he… he just said 'Not today'… an' smiled…" Aster frowned, rubbing his fingers against his temples. "I don' know. It's just botherin' me. That look on his face."

Sandy reached over and patted his shoulder before returning his hand to his lap.

"It's not like I can talk ta him tomorrow or anything."

Sandy tilted his head – _Why not?_

"He'll think I've gone crazy or something an' he won' talk ta me. He doesn't like me on general princ'ples. There's no way he'd tell me the truth." Sandy shrugged. Aster stared at him for a few seconds before sighing in defeat. "Ya want me to go talk to him now, don' ya?"

Sandy pulled out a notepad from his pocket and wrote, "_Will wimp out tomorrow_"

"I wouldn' wimp out-!"

Sandy gave him a knowing look.

"Fine, fine," Aster grumbled.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 18. 4:58 PM**

Jack set down the backpack and binders carefully. A cold pit had formed at the bottom of his stomach, freezing his insides and wrenching them around. He ignored it for the time being, focusing on arranging the binders so they didn't fall off the bridge and making sure the suicide note was pinned securely to the top of his backpack. Anyone passing by would surely stop to check out the odd pile of stuff on the bridge.

He stood up, stepping away from the pile. It struck him that everything he really cared about was sitting in front of him. His binders, full of math equations and simple tricks, and his books and backpack. His life, sitting in front of him. That was depressing enough to assuage the cold pit in his stomach a bit, and was able to motivate him to move towards the bridge railing. He grabbed on with his hands, ignoring the ice covering the surface. He swung his legs over to sit on the railing and peer down into the rushing water below.

Jack smiled slightly and leaned forward.

"_Sandy an' I were gonna to call it off, since it would just be the two of us, but if we had a third…"_

He slipped.

Jack shouted incoherently as he lost his grip. His leg caught on one of the railing posts and he let out a short yell as it was nearly yanked out of his socket. His head went under the water, and he inhaled a mouthful of it. He curled up reflexively, spluttering. Jack gasped harshly, straining to pull himself up back onto the bridge. Arms stretching, leg straining, his fingertips could barely even touch the bottom of the bridge.

He moaned in pain and frustration before gritting his teeth against the fire in his leg. He bent his knee, nearly screaming again in pain as he felt something pop. Ignoring it, he reached upwards again, closer and closer to the railing posts. His right hand fingers graced the edge of the bridge, giving him a faint glimmer of hope.

His foot came loose.

His right hand flew up, grabbing onto one of the posts he had been reaching for. The ice made it too slippery and his fingers couldn't get a strong enough grip.

He fell.

The water was cold, bitterly cold. He took a breath inadvertently but closed his mouth immediately. A spurt of bubbles tumbled out of his nose, and the feeling in the back of his throat made him cough. About half of his air supply went with him. He panicked, kicking out to try to get leverage on something so he could break the surface. The river was flooded, though, and the river bed was too far below him.

His side erupted in pain as he slammed against a rock imbedded in the river. He bit his tongue to stop from opening his mouth again. Blood began flowing down his throat as he bit harder, slamming from rock to rock. He couldn't breathe and he forgot to swallow. The blood was going down the wrong tube, going into his lungs…

He coughed explosively, blood briefly coloring the water around his mouth before it was washed away. Water poured down his throat, washing away the bad taste but replacing it with an even worse one. He barely had time to think that he didn't even want to know what was in the river.

The river was getting darker. Had he passed under another bridge, or passed…

Out.

.

.

A hand grabbed his shoulder, dragging him above the surface of the water. The remnants of Jack's consciousness flooded to life, blowing out the water in his mouth and inhaling deeply. He coughed, throwing up as much water as he could. Distantly, he could hear someone yelling next to him. The words trickled in, becoming louder and louder.

"-ocus! You have to focus, Jack!"

He shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Jack, you idiot! _Please!_"

Jack inhaled deeply again, breathing raggedly. His head went under again, but he spluttered most of it out immediately.

"Jack, _I can't swim!_"

"I can't either!" Jack gasped out.

He held onto the person beside him, tightly gripping his lifeline. The other person, however, was having as much trouble staying above the surface, and it was even harder with Jack holding onto him. Jack thrashed around with his arms, and the other person yelled at him for it. Jack ignored him, still scrabbling for some grip. He latched on to a rock, almost letting go as the person beside him shot past. Jack reached out, tightening the grip on his savior and trying to pull him up to the boulder. The person reached forward, also getting a hold of the rock. Jack turned to his side, coming face to face with Aster.

"Aster…?" he forced out.

"Hurry up an' do something!"

"Do _what_?"

"I told ya, I can't swim!"

"Then why did you jump in!"

"Shaddup!"

Jack reached out, grabbing onto a branch leaning into the river. He yanked on it, trying to pull himself up, but it gave away and fell in. He held on, pulling it up towards them. "Okay, hold on to the end of this!"

"It doesn' help if it's not attached to the soil, moron!"

"Shut up and do it! I'll hold on to the other end, and one of us is bound to hit the riverbank if we keep it perpendicular to the flow of the stream! Whoever hits the riverbank pulls the other up with the stick, okay?"

"Can't we just use it to push ya over there?" Aster yelled over the rush of the water.

"The ground's too high! I won't be able to climb up, and it's too slippery to hold on to."

Aster grumbled. "One!"

"Two!"

"Three!" both yelled, letting go of the rock and holding on to opposite ends of the staff. The current threw them down the river, and the two tumbled out of control. Aster went under briefly, but Jack put his weight on his end of the staff to push him up. Aster coughed up water, looking blearily at Jack. He grimaced back, looking further down the river for an opportune spot.

"Jack, the river widens up! If we go much farther, we're not gonna make it!" Aster shouted.

"Kick off against a rock or something, oka-" Jack broke off in a grunt as Aster did exactly that, accidentally shoving the end of the staff into Jack's stomach. He felt the air leave him as he slammed back against the bank of the river. He let go of the stick reflexively, but quickly reached out and grabbed a hook in the stick while simultaneously grabbing a root that was jabbing him in the back.

Aster swung around in the current, downstream from Jack. He glanced to his left, seeing a low bank just a few feet away. "Jack, swing me over!" he shouted. Jack nodded, throwing the stick sideways as best as he could to push Aster over. He let go to do it, watching helplessly as Aster was flung sideways.

He made it.

Aster rolled halfway onto the riverbank, scrambling up the rest of the way. The stick was caught in his legs and flailing arms, and he dragged it up with him. Aster glanced up the river at Jack, who was hanging on feebly to the root. Aster stood shakily, gripping the stick, and then ran. He disappeared from sight a second later.

Jack sighed, leaning his head against the dirt next to him. He didn't blame Aster for ditching. That ride had been too much for anyone. Damn Aster and his hero complex – _this was a suicide attempt_.

A voice nagged him in the back of his mind. _Then why did you try to grab the bridge, Jack?_

Something looped around his right arm, the side not holding on to the root. He looked up, seeing Aster crouching above him on the sturdy ground above. He had the stick in his hands, and was using the hook to get Jack's attention. "Don't make me come down there!" he snapped.

Jack grabbed the staff, kicking against the edge of the bank with his feet. Aster hauled him up, leaning backwards to do so. Jack held on, not able to do much other than scrabble against the dirt. Aster reached down and grabbed the back of his hood as Jack's head got closer. He nearly pulled the jacket off instead, but the extra boost helped enough for Jack to grab the ground Aster was standing on and to throw himself on to it. Aster readjusted, grabbing his arm instead and pulling him up.

Jack fell on his back, coughing up the remaining water in his lungs. Aster collapsed beside him, adrenaline giving out at the same time his legs did. Jack heard a thump as the stick fell down between them.

For a few minutes, the only sound was their ragged breathing. Jack closed his eyes, forgetting everything but breathing for the moment. He was positive he had water in his lungs and he didn't doubt that he was going to get pneumonia later on. Aster hadn't swallowed as much, he didn't think. Jack had only seen him go under the one time. He twitched his leg, and then regretted it instantly. He hissed in a breath of pain, muscles tensing in his back.

He heard a scrabbling sound next to him but didn't look over to see what it was. A second later, he felt Aster's wet hand grip his, fingers digging into his skin as the Australian confirmed to himself that Jack was still there. Aster squeezed his limp hand tightly. Jack returned the pressure, and Aster let go.

After they had both gotten their breath back, Aster sat up unsteadily and looked over at Jack. The other teenager looked back, tired, cold, and upset enough to just be content to sit there and not move. Aster had other plans.

"Come on," he wearily said. "We'll ge' 'ypothermia if we sit here any longer."

"Go ahead," Jack responded. "You deserve a hot chocolate or two after that." He closed his eyes again, leaning his head back in the snow. He just now realized that he had been shivering this whole time. Maybe Aster had a good idea there about the hypothermia…

Aster shook his head at him, reaching down to grab his shoulder for the third time in an hour. He pulled him up partly before Jack let out a sharp, pained gasp. It trailed off into a hiss as he opened his eyes.

"What?" Aster asked quickly.

"_Ow_," Jack sharply responded. He looked down at his leg and prodded the knee. He flinched, biting back a sound.

"What's wrong?"

"Damaged my knee, I think." He directed his gaze back to Aster. "We're about a mile into the forest. There's no way you'll be able to-"

"Shut up an' get off yer butt." Aster reached down, handing the life-saving stick to him. "Come on, lean on it and me. I think my house is closer."

Jack nodded, using the staff to pull himself up. He kept his weight off his knee, and between the two of them, began hobbling through the forest.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

a/n: This is being posted so quickly because of the multiple follower alerts I've already gotten and a review. Plus, as the reviewer mentioned, the first chapter doesn't really make much sense without this one. Also, it was already done, so…


	3. Chapter 3

Aster paused, squinting around them at the trees. "We're not on the right trail."

"You're realizing that _now_?" Jack hissed, trying to control his chattering teeth. Aster was shivering beside him, trying to keep warm in the cold. It was hard, since his clothes were wet and quickly freezing. "Don't you have a phone or something?"

"Even if it didn' fall out, it's definit'ly not gonna work," Aster muttered in response. "Woulda been totally soaked."

Jack groaned. "Okay, if we're not going the right way, how do we course correct?"

"We don'."

"_What_?"

"We're closer ta Sandy's now," Aster replied. "It's smarter ta just go there instead'a runnin' all over the place. We can' be ten minutes away."

"We _better_ be less than ten minutes away, 'cause I think my fingers are turning different shades of color at this point."

"So says the one jumping off a bridge," Aster grumbled under his breath.

Jack barely managed to cover his stumble as just him being clumsy. Aster steadied him, barely breaking stride. Jack lengthened two of his paces to catch up. "I did not _jump_," Jack snapped.

"Then how else did you fall off the damn bridge?" Aster muttered, leaving Jack to realize that the other teenager had just been being snippy and hadn't been making an actual assessment. He kept the relief from his face. A few seconds later, when Jack had begun to take the question for being rhetorical, Aster repeated in a more serious tone, "Seriously, wha' happened?"

Jack flinched slightly. "Just… tripped…"

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever-" Aster froze in his tracks. He turned sharply, looking at Jack. The latter didn't move much, not wanting to jostle his leg. Aster's gaze turned hard and calculating. "It was Pitch, wasn't it?"

Jack stared at Aster for a few seconds, open mouthed.

"Son of a bitch, it _was_!" Aster yelled at no one in particular. Jack continued staring at him as he stalked off, snarling profanities and threats to himself. "I'm gonna rip the bastard a new one-" was the cleanest and most audible thing he was able to hear.

"How did you…?" _Get from me jumping off a bridge to Pitch shoving me off a bridge?_ Jack wanted to ask, but the words didn't come out of his mouth. The question was left hanging, and it seemed everything he did just inadvertently proved Aster's theory correct.

"He _was_ bullying ya this morning, wasn' he?" Aster demanded.

"Um." Pitch actually didn't bother Jack that much anymore; he was just plain annoying. In the past, though… Jack grimaced, a subconscious reaction to their past relationship. He would sell all his belongings and his left arm if it would keep him from ever getting into a situation like that again.

"He better watch his back an' sleep with two eyes open." Aster's pace increased in his anger, strides becoming quicker and stiffer. Jack hobbled along after him, somewhat pleased that at least the Australian wasn't shivering so much anymore. "Has he done anything like this before?"

"No…" And still hasn't.

"Well, he won' be again," Aster mumbled brusquely, not even talking to Jack anymore at this point. "He coulda killed ya, ya know?"

"Yeah."

He left Aster to his mutterings, instead choosing to look around at where they were going. It really was rather beautiful out here in the winter. The ice had coated the limbs of trees and encased the leaves of bushes in see-through containers. Snow had settled on top of some surfaces and bunched up around others, creating new landscapes as the wind blew it around. It struck him, suddenly, that this would have been a rather beautiful place to die, and that anyone who knew him and had walked through these trees again would have been reminded of his death every time.

Jack quickly looked away from the trees, back to the ground in front of him. Aster was leading the way, following a path through the snow that had already been created. There were some avid runners in the town of Burgess, and the town's forest was a favorite spot for that activity. They had cleared paths through the snow pretty quickly, clearing the paths again every time it snowed. The stick he was using as a crutch was exceptional at getting him through any drifts that came across his way. There weren't many, but he would've certainly had to have resorted to asking Aster for help to get through. As there was no way that would have happened, there would definitely have been a problem.

The staff (yes, it was a _staff_ – no use calling it a stick when no stick had such a beautiful shape) was long and slender, curving into a shepherd's hook at the very top. It was just slightly taller than him and provided a good counterbalance for his wounded leg. The wood was sturdy beneath his hand, as if it had only been lying on the bank waiting for him to come along. Jack squeezed it tighter, promising to himself that he was keeping a hold of the staff until the day he died, no matter what the cause of his demise.

"There, see?" Aster said, pointing up ahead. "Sandy's. Almost there."

Jack nodded, tightening his grip on the wood. This night was definitely not going how he'd originally intended for it to go.

Sandy was in the backyard, sitting on a swing, when the two came into view. He stood up in shock, running towards them as they stumbled out of the trees. Jack didn't want to look down, but he could guess that they looked like a complete mess. Sandy's hands reached out, touching both of them carefully, flitting nervously around their torsos to assure himself they weren't so badly off that they were dying. After a few seconds, he stepped back, pointing urgently toward his house and gestured for them to go quickly inside. He paced ahead of the pair, turned back after a few steps to walk with them, and then in his anxiousness moving past them again.

Aster seemed too tired to really do anything other than walk inside. Jack didn't blame him. The poor guy had small bits of ice in his hair from where the river water had frozen. His clothes were completely ruined by mud and what seemed to be blood in some places. Jack was too numb to really tell if his clothes and hair had similarly frozen, but he didn't really care.

Sandy opened the door to let them both in. They walked into the kitchen, tracking all sorts of stuff in with their muddied feet. Jack winced at them, but neither of the other two seemed to care. Aster seemed completely comfortable here, probably having come over many times before. He dropped into a wooden chair at the kitchen table, letting his body sag back against it. "Thanks, Sandy," he muttered, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wood. Sandy jumped forward and proceeded to smack the back of his friend's head multiple times with his hands to stop him from going to sleep. Aster jerked away, looking back in confusion at Sandy. "What?"

Sandy pointed firmly at the teapot on the stove.

"Hot water?"

Sandy mimicked shivering from the cold, then nodded in response to Aster's statement.

"Fine, fine…" Aster stood up, moving to the kettle. Sandy shook his head, grabbing Aster's arm and moving him away from it, pushing him toward the hallway. "What? _What_?" Aster snapped in exasperation.

Sandy pointed at himself and then the kettle. He paused, held up a hand to tell them to wait a second, and then disappeared down the hallway. Aster and Jack exchanged looks. Then Aster frowned, finally noticing that Jack hadn't moved more than two steps inside.

"What?" he asked, in a less irritable tone than before.

"We're tracking dirt all over the place," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, we can clean it up later. Sandy's parents are out fer the weekend visitin' his sister up at college, so they're not gonna yell at us. Hey, speakin' of which, d'ya need to call yer parents?"

He had totally forgotten about them. Having told his mother that he would be staying with a friend so they could work on a project, they weren't going to be expecting him back. Aster couldn't know that, however, because then he'd wonder why Jack had lied. He gaped at Aster for a few seconds, not even sure what to tell him. "Um… I don't think they'll notice," was all he could truthfully think to say. Aster frowned, but the conversation came to a halt as Sandy bustled back into the room, carrying two towels. He handed one to each of them and then gestured at their clothes.

Jack glanced at Aster, who had been playing charades with Sandy for a lot longer than Jack had. Aster was looking at Sandy as he went through a few more motions. "He's tellin' us our clothes are cold so we better get out a' them before we freeze. We should go take hot showers ta try ta warm up. He's goin' ta make hot water for drinks. He's askin' us… how we are?" The last part was a bit confused. Aster wasn't entirely sure what Sandy had said.

Sandy grimaced, frowning, before pulling out his notebook and writing _Hospital?_ on it. Jack glanced at the notebook as the short teenager showed it to them. He now knew why Sandy didn't communicate like that more often. His handwriting was absolutely horrendous.

"No, no, I'm fine," Jack denied vehemently.

Aster shook his head. "Wait, wait. Frost, you can' even _walk_, an' you prob'bly have hypothermia by now. I at least had somewhat warm clothes on. You're turnin' _blue_. The only reason yer standin' is 'cause a' that stick. Ya got to go."

"I'm _fine_," he insisted.

Sandy pointed down at his leg. Jack frowned, and Sandy pointed again. Jack looked down at the limb, taking in the amount of blood that was discoloring the mud around whatever injury he had.

"Look, it's just been accumulating for the last while. It's not that bad," Jack said. "I'll bet it just looks that bad because I haven't been able to clean it off yet."

Sandy frowned, tapping his foot irritably. Then he sighed and pointed out into the hallway, gesturing for the two to go take showers.

"You're not going to call the hospital, right?" Jack said.

Sandy grimaced, waving it off. He looked irritated, which meant he had given in and wouldn't make the call. When they both moved forward to go to the shower, he pointed at their clothes.

"Er, you want us to take them off right here in the kitchen?" Jack sheepishly asked. Sandy gave him a flat look before turning to the kettle. Aster and Jack once more exchanged looks before turning their backs to each other and stripping out of their clothes. They wrapped up in the towels before going out into the hallway. Aster pointed him towards one of the showers in the house while he went into another.

Jack dumped the towel on the floor, locked the door, and then turned the shower up as hot as it could get. While he waited for it to warm up, he looked around the bathroom, trying to figure out how to make this work in. If he leaned on the staff in the shower, he was definitely going to fall, and then he _would_ be dead from a broken neck. If he didn't have the staff, however, he was still going to fall. Realizing there was no other choice, he awkwardly sat down on the edge of the tub, leaned the staff against the wall, and then slid in to sit on the bottom of the bath tub.

The mud peeled off of him painfully as soon as he turned the water on. Jack flinched, hissing as the hot water touched his freezing skin. The water turned brown almost as soon as it hit him, taking off huge chunks of the mud and anything else that had been on him. He was pretty sure he saw several leaves and twigs go down the drain. Once he got over the shock of the temperature, he began scrubbing off as much muck as he could from his body. His hair was definitely the worst. It seemed like every time he went through it, there was still as much mud as there had been last time.

He'd fallen in the river, right? Not a mud bath.

It took almost half an hour to get most of the dirt from his body. Now that he could actually see what color his skin was, he could also see his leg. The shower water was washing away the blood, but the wound was still visible. Right above his left knee, a slice was running from the outside of his leg up to a few inches below his pelvis on the inside of his leg. It was shallow but long and wide. If Jack had to guess about how that had happened, he'd say it had been when he slammed into the rocks before Aster had jumped in. It was a good guess, since he had a large bruise forming along his left rib cage as well. A decent amount of flesh had been scraped out, which was undoubtedly what had caused enough pain in the area to not allow him to use the leg.

Jack reached up and shut off the hot water. He climbed out of the tub, mainly using his arms, and grabbed the towel. He wiped off and was drying his hair when he realized he had no clothes. With a sigh, he finished drying off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He reached over to grab his staff and used it to pull himself to his feet. He unlocked the door and was about to step out when he saw the blanket folded up in the hallway, obviously meant for him in place of the towel.

Jack kept the towel on, but took the blanket and wrapped himself up in it. It took him a minute to get back to the kitchen, as his sore muscles were beginning to set in along with stiffness from the cold. Sandy had, as promised, prepared the hot water, but hadn't poured it yet. He was waiting by the stove for the two to come back when Jack walked in.

Sandy smiled and poured the hot water into one of the waiting cups. He pointed at a tea bag and then a box sitting on the counter for hot chocolate. Jack made a grunt, barely able to scramble his thoughts for words, and nodded his head towards the hot chocolate. Sandy prepared the drink, glancing over his shoulder occasionally to see if Jack was okay. Jack gave him a small smile every time.

The clothes had been picked up off the floor and put somewhere else. Wherever they were, they weren't in sight. The mud had been cleaned off any surface they had touched, leaving no trace that they had ever stumbled in looking so dirty. Sandy had been busy while they had been in the shower.

Aster walked in a few minutes later, also completely wrapped up in the blanket. He was muttering under his breath, still complaining about the cold. His face was flushed from the hot water, though, so apparently he was just holding a grudge out against the weather on general principles.

Sandy went through the motion of asking Aster if he wanted hot chocolate or tea as well. Aster went for the cocoa. Jack was already sipping his own. Sandy handed Aster his and then sat down at the table, gesturing at the two vaguely and then outside.

"What happened?" Jack guessed.

Nod.

"Pitch pushed Jack in ta river an' he 'pparently can' swim worth a damn, so I went in after 'im."

Sandy frowned, pointing at their clothes.

"We were in there for a while. River flooded wi' all the precipitation we've been getting', an' we couldn' get out easily." He gestured at the staff that was laying on the floor, half under the kitchen table to prevent someone from tripping on it. "Had to use that to get out."

Sandy pointed at Aster and motioned with his fingers, mimicking someone swimming. He looked confused. Aster gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"I _know_, but the current was freakishly strong. I 'ad enough trouble keepin' our heads above water, let alone get us outta there!"

Jack frowned. "What?"

Sandy, with complete silence, snorted and started to laugh. Aster muttered out, "Nothing."

Seeing that his friend wasn't going to tell, Sandy scribbled down on his notepad, _Swim team_, and then showed it to Jack. The teenager smirked in amusement. "Seriously?"

"Strong current, like I said! I can swim jus' fine wi'out the crap you were in."

"You told me you couldn't swim!"

"It wasn' like I was gonna go into a detailed 'splanation 'bout how I couldn' get both 'a us out 'cause the current was too strong!"

Sandy calmed down, becoming more serious. He pointed at Jack's leg again.

"Oh, yeah. It's badly scraped up, but I think it'll heal within a few days."

Aster snorted, setting his hot chocolate down. "Hell, not the way _you_ were walkin' on it. Show me."

Jack pulled the blanket aside to show the long scrape along his leg. Aster stared at it for a few seconds.

"Yeah, ya aren't goin' ta be walkin' on that for a while. That's damaged the muscle, that has. If ya use it, ya could cause permanent damage."

Jack frowned. "Really?" he said, looking down at it again.

"Mate, don' even try it. Ya'll really jack it up if ya do. Just go on crutches fer about a week an' see how it looks then, alright?"

Jack shrugged, starting to cover it back up with the blanket again. Aster grabbed his arm before he could, stopping him. "Hey, if it's not already, it's gonna get infected fast if ya just leave it open like that. Gotta dump it in antiseptic, considerin' all the crap we were swimmin' in."

He got up, walking out of the room to look for the first aid kit. Jack glanced across the table at Sandy. "Hey, thanks for all this," Jack said. Sandy smiled and nodded.

He gestured vaguely for a second, and then pointed out the window at the full moon.

"Tonight?"

Sandy nodded before pointing at Jack and then the table.

"You want me to stay here tonight?"

Sandy nodded again, pointing at Jack's leg and shaking his head.

"You don't want me walking on this."

Once more, he nodded.

A few seconds passed, before Jack said, "Hey, I've always meant to ask this, but why don't you just use sign language?"

Sandy scribbled down on his notepad _Few bother learning it. Someone would have to walk around with me to translate_

"Ah."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack woke up four hours later, tightly holding the blanket around him. He'd been dreaming vaguely about what had happened when something in the dream had caught his attention.

_The note_.

If someone walked past (as he had intended) and saw the stuff on the bridge, they'd report the "suicide" to the police. There was no way he was going to be able to explain it away. Then the school and his parents would make him talk to a therapist, and that would take _forever_, and he really didn't want to do that. People would look at him differently, and he would never see anything but pity in their eyes again.

He slipped out of bed, clad in some clothes Sandy's father had. Aster and he were both too small for them, but it was better than just walking around the house with only a blanket on. Sandy had put Aster upstairs in his sister's room and Jack was in the guest room. There was no one between Jack and the back door, so there was no reason why he shouldn't be able to slip out without them knowing and get back with the note safely confiscated. He couldn't bring the backpack and binders back anyway if he didn't want them to know he had left.

The floorboards thankfully didn't creak as he got up. He leaned against the staff to walk, but it was easier now that his leg had been tied up. It had taken ten minutes of dumping hydrogen peroxide on the wound to get it sterile. After allowing their bodies to have some time to get accustomed to the welcome change in environment, Aster and Jack had seen no signs of hypothermia. Any problems they had noticed had begun to fade, and most were gone by the time they had stepped out of the shower.

Jack took a few more steps forward, reaching the door. He opened it and stepped out, making sure to close it behind him. If one of them walked past, the open door would be an obvious sign that he was gone. He walked forward, trying to keep as silent as he could. The whole plan was immediately negated when he stepped into the kitchen, only ten feet from the back door, to see that Sandy was sitting on the table working on his laptop. The small teenager looked up at Jack, as if it were totally normal for him to be sitting on the table in the middle of the night in the dark. He waved.

Jack resisted the urge to close his eyes and groan.

Instead, he waved hesitantly back. "You're still up?"

Sandy nodded, and then pointed at Jack. It was easy to see him because of the light from the laptop.

"I was going to go get the stuff I left at the bridge," Jack said. He hesitantly tacked on, "After Pitch pushed me…"

Sandy gave him a lopsided smile, telling Jack just how much he believed Aster's theory. Jack grinned back, laughing slightly. "Yeah, I wasn't really sure how he got that idea either."

Sandy pointed at the moon, frowning slightly. Then he pointed downwards, faking urgency.

"Yeah, it needs to be now. I think it's supposed to rain, and the papers in the binders will get totally ruined, even if they're not swept into the river."

Sandy nodded, closing the laptop lid and climbing off the table. The moonlight was enough to somewhat illuminate the room, so Jack could see Sandy's vague image moving around. He heard him set the laptop down on the table and walk closer to Jack. Sandy pointed upwards, in the direction of where Aster was. The two contemplated it for a second, looked at the clock, and decided against the idea of waking him. Aster could sleep for a while more.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The walk there was easier than before because of the warm clothes and the bandaged leg. It took them about half the time to get there than it had to get to Sandy's. Everything was right where he had left it, perfectly positioned for the next person to come across it in the morning. Jack could even see the note pinned to his backpack before he had even touched the bridge. He picked up the pace, trying to get there before Sandy did. The smaller boy wasn't sure what the urgency was about and followed a little bit slower. That gave Jack enough time to snatch the note off and shove it in his pocket before Sandy saw it.

He hoisted his backpack up onto his shoulder and grabbed a bunch of the binders in his arms. Sandy picked up the two he hadn't been able to grab, and then nabbed a few off the top of his pile. Jack smiled faintly at the move before starting to walk back towards Sandy's house. "Thanks," he said, looking down. Sandy smiled back, and then the two turned back in the direction they were walking. Jack's longer paces outdistanced Sandy's, and Sandy let himself drift behind so Jack didn't see his expression. The sands of worry and suspicion had begun seeping into his thoughts on Jack's actions this night.

A theory unlike Aster's was beginning to form. It would change his relationship with the person in front of him and cause significant changes in the life of multiple people for the next year.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: I want to clear up some confusion that I expect there will be. I temporarily thought about having the odd numbered chapters be about how Aster and Jack's sister figure out who Jack was before his suicide, while the even numbered chapters would be about how he survived and his past is coming back to kick him. Well, as my twin pointed out, that is not confusing _at all_, so I decided to just ditch the idea and go with having the story being just how his past is coming back. I still posted the first chapter with Jack's death, though, because I felt it was necessary that it was clearly known that Jack _would_ have died if Aster had not done something slightly differently.

If you want to request a scene, please do. I know what's generally going to happen, but not many details.

The reason Tooth has not even had her name said yet is because I don't know what to call her yet and my impression of her is colored by another character from a different series. The two characters do _not_ act the same, so I want to make sure I don't write Tooth's character wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

**October 19**

"What happened to Jack Frost?" Ana asked during their lunch period. She was looking at Sandy and Aster.

"What?" Aster said, looking up from his food in confusion. He hadn't been paying attention to the conversation at all until it had stopped while everyone looked at him to reply to Ana. She repeated her question. "Oh, that. Why d'ya think we know?"

"You walked into school with him," she replied.

Aster shrugged. "Yeah. He scraped his leg up pretty badly in an accident so we helped 'im inta school."

"What happened?"

"He fell." This was negated by him glaring across the cafeteria at the back of Pitch's head. He had been doing that the entire day. Pitch had caught the look several times, generally responding with a look and gesture of 'What the hell?' One time, he had just given up and glared back. Sandy sighed inwardly. He couldn't contradict Aster's guess since he didn't know for sure what was going on himself, and all he knew was that Pitch hadn't been involved.

"Okay…" Ana said, trailing off uncertainly. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Should be walkin' on his own in a few days, if he doesn' mess it up again," Aster muttered. "Hey, we have to turn in the field trip forms for the New York trip soon, don't we?"

"Friday last day," Nick confirmed.

"…An' today is…?" Aster said.

"Tuesday," Ana replied. She looked around the table. "Where did Sandy go?"

The two boys sat up straighter, looking around the room for their small friend. He had disappeared out of sight while they weren't looking. Usually so silent, it wasn't hard to miss him when he randomly disappeared. Sadly, this was quite often. "I guess he had somewhere else to be."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack looked up as Sandy sat down across the table from him. Even in the silence of the library, he hadn't heard a sound as Sandy had walked in. There were only a few other students in here, all working on school projects or dodging the mess of lunch like he was. "Sandy?"

Sandy smiled, tilting his head slightly.

"What're you doing in here?" He kept his voice quiet, trying not to break the silence that hung over the room.

Sandy pointed at Jack by way of response.

"Me? What about me?" The finger moved down to his leg. Jack tapped it lightly. "Oh, this thing's fine. It's not causing me many problems so far. I think it's healing alright. Thanks for helping clean it up."

Sandy nodded, and then gestured with his arms, pretending to use crutches.

"I ditched them by the end of first block. They were too much of a hassle to mess with, so I'm just limping along. Thanks for asking, though. Aren't the others wondering where you are?"

Sandy shrugged.

"Alright…"

A few minutes of silence passed, neither sure what to say. Sandy departed to go check out a book, but was back before Jack had realized he had left. He was going through one of the binders he had taken to the bridge yesterday. Since he hadn't considered living through the night yesterday, he hadn't bothered thinking about what would happen if he _did_ end up forced into helping Aster with the tutoring. He had promised to go talk to someone (that 'someone' was supposed to be Aster through his suicide note), but as that wasn't going to be happening, he was going to need to go back through the binders to see if he could find anything to at least help Aster out if he couldn't give him a tutor.

"Hey, Sandy, I think I'm going to have to stop by your house to pick up the rest of my stuff," Jack said. "I wasn't able to carry everything to school, with my leg."

The notepad came out of nowhere as Sandy nodded, writing something down. He flipped the pad around, showing Jack the words _I'll help_.

"That's not really-"

Sandy tore off the piece of paper and threw it at him.

"Sure, why not."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

His fourth block class was the worst. He had been forced into taking Government, since it was a required class, but he found that ridiculous because he already understood the entire class. If he _taught it_, maybe he'd learn something new. He had a hundred and three percent in the class, the last time he checked. Since he didn't see any reason at all to pay attention, he used this period to get other homework done. He was currently working on the English essay that was going to be due in a few days.

His teacher had never really cared for him, even though he had the highest grade in the class, and the only time she talked to him was to scold him for some small, insignificant thing. Every time he got a single question wrong, she'd explain the question in detail and specifically mention she was doing this to make sure he understood it. It was a bit ridiculous, and he had made sure that there was no love lost between them.

She was taking this day off from doing notes so she could get other things sorted out. She spent the entire class passing back papers from the last four weeks, going over a few questions (none of which were Jack's) that they had missed from their last test, and ranted at them for their behavior yesterday with a substitute. None of this had to do with Jack, so he tuned it out and finished his essay with twenty minutes left in class. She was passing back the last of the papers at that point, allowing the class to move and talk freely so long as they didn't yell.

He heard someone murmur behind him, "Switch with me." His neighbor glanced back, picking up her books so she could trade places with someone else. Pitch sat down in her vacated seat, turning to the side. "Jack. I think we need to talk."

"I'd rather not." He finished up the last few words of a paragraph, and with it the essay, when Pitch snatched the paper away from him. Jack was forced to look at him to get the paper back, holding out a hand towards Pitch. "Give it."

"Not yet. I need you to do something for me."

"I get the distinct feeling that I'm not going to want to. Give me my paper back."

"I just want to talk for a few seconds. Is that a problem?"

"It is when it's _you_ talking to me."

"Look," Pitch said, lowering his voice to barely more than a whisper. "I know you don't want to get involved again, but I need you for this. It's just one drop. Then you can go on your merry way, and we'll never have to talk again. Just this once?"

"No, Pitch. Don't bother me again."

He reached over, trying to snag his paper back, but Pitch held it out of reach. If the teacher even noticed what was going on, she didn't even bother to look up. "Jack, just because you went on leave of your employment doesn't mean you quit."

"You could hardly call it employment, and I _did_ quit. I don't want to go back to that again, alright? Just leave me alone," he said crossly.

Pitch glared at him. "I hope you know what you're getting into by saying no."

"I couldn't care less." He held out his hand for the paper. "Now, Pitch. Give me the paper."

"No, I think I'll hold onto it. I've got the English essay to do, too." He tucked it away into a pocket. "You're sure?"

"I'd rather cut off an arm."

"That can be arranged."

"You're graduating at the end of the year," Jack said. "You think you can hold this over me for much longer?"

"For as long as I can," Pitch responded, smirking. "I'll make your life hell."

Jack eyed him. "Must be a big load you're sending out, if you're so intent on using me for this."

"None of your business…unless you decide to work with me."

Jack turned away from him, pulling out another sheet of paper to begin rewriting his essay from scratch. Pitch left him alone the rest of the class, choosing to relent on his attempt for the day.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Jack," his sister said when he walked in the door. She had apparently been waiting for him in a chair, and looked rather dramatic with her blank expression and loose posture. "Come on." She walked up the stairs to her room, dragging him along behind. His bad leg clenched up in pain, but he let her pull him up to the second floor. This was rather difficult for her, as his arms were overflowing with the binders he had picked up from Sandy's house. Sandy had indeed walked him home, but had given him the rest of the binders at the doorstep before Jack went into his house.

"Let me just drop these off in my room, okay?" he said. "I'll be right back."

She nodded grudgingly, waiting at her doorway while he dumped the binders and backpack on his bed before walking back down the hall to her room. She stepped aside to let him pass and then closed the door behind him. She sat down on the bed while he leaned against her window sill. "It has come to my attention that you have friends."

He blinked at her, utterly confused. "…I'm sorry?"

"Mom told me you spent last night with friends."

"Well, we were working on a project."

"I don't care, you have _friends_."

"Is this a problem?"

"No!" She jumped up to her feet, finally allowing the grin to burst across her face. She crossed the room quickly, hugging Jack tightly and rocking back and forth in excitement. "It's wonderful! I've been so worried you weren't ever going to have any friends, but you do! You have to tell me all about them!"

Jack haltingly gave her a half-hug with one arm, not sure what she was going on about. "What?"

"Your friends! Tell me about your friends!"

"Oh."

_I almost left her._

The unexpected thought made him cringe slightly, but he hid it by putting his hand on her shoulder and gently nudging her back. "Okay, okay," he laughed, "but you've got to give me breathing space."

She sat down on the bed, watching him with a happy grin on her face. He leaned back against the window sill again. "Okay…" he started, and then stopped. Should he just invent people? What if she asked around and realized they didn't actually exist? "Um, well, what do you want to know?"

"Who are they? In your grade, older, what?"

"A few of them are in my grade. I just met them recently for this project we're doing…"

"What's the project about?"

"Oh, boring English stuff."

"Are you going to talk to them after it's done?" She was actually bouncing a bit on the bed.

"Er, I don't know… Probably!" he added quickly, seeing her face become downcast. She brightened again when he said the last word. "I'm… starting up tutoring at the high school with one of them." He was digging his grave here, all because he wanted a relationship with his sister. The things he did sometimes for family…

"Oh, that's amazing! That'll get you talking to other kids as well!"

"Yeah, I know." He smiled slightly at her, shifting his weight a bit. He could deal with the other kids – it was Aster who was going to be the problem.

"Are you going to have to stay after school to help them and stuff? Or are you going to still come home on time?"

"To be honest, we're still working on it, so we're not sure about the details right now. We have to make sure enough kids are going to want to do it before we get it started." He smiled again. He'd really missed talking to Emma.

"Can I meet them some time?"

"Of course!"

Oh _shit_.

"I'd love to meet your friends," she said, still grinning with that happy look. "Let me know whenever they've got time, alright?"

"Sure. We've got some tests coming up, so they might be studying for a while."

"That's okay. Whenever they can spare a moment."

"Enough about me. What about you? We haven't talked in a while." He winced inwardly at the last bit – it had come out sounding a bit wounded. He tried to hide it by smiling, but she had caught the slight inflection and her smile faded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," she said, scuffing her foot against the ground. "I didn't want to talk to you for a while because I was afraid you'd blame me for falling into the ice, and then after a while, it was just awkward to start up a conversation because we both thought the other hated us. And we just drifted farther apart, and then we had nothing to talk about."

Jack looked down at the ground between his feet, not sure what to say. "Sorry, I didn't know… You thought I was _mad_ at you?"

"Yeah," she said, laughing slightly. "Kinda stupid, huh?"

He reached over, rubbing her head with his hand before she could jerk away as he messed up her hair. "Yeah. _Really _stupid."

"Oh, shut up!" she said with a laugh, picking up one of her pillows and smacking him with it. He grabbed another one near him and returned the favor. Within seconds, their mother could hear the sound of a tussle coming from upstairs as the two struggled to come out on top in the mass of blankets and stuffed animals that were getting involved in the epic fight.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 20**

Sandy and Ana met him in the library during his lunch break. The two were whispering about something. It sounded like they were discussing their French homework. Ana did most of the talking, and Sandy would just scribble down a response. Jack wasn't quite sure how Sandy was getting graded for the speaking part of the class, but he was apparently doing pretty well, judging from the French teacher's flattery of him.

He sat down cautiously at the table with a few of his binders, only limping a little. Sandy was in front of him and Ana was to his left. She turned and smiled at him before looking back at Sandy, finishing her sentence. Jack put aside his confusion and turned to the two binders in front of him. He sighed inwardly. If he was going to have to introduce Emma to anyone, the last person he would want to introduce her to would be Aster. This was going to be hell on his patience if he had to deal with Aster more than twice a week, all so he could mend relations with his sister. The last thing he wanted to tell her was that he had lied to their mother about where he was, let alone about where he had _actually_ been.

He wasn't sure what age group they were going to be working with or which math classes, but he figured he could safely assume that they would be helping Trigonometry students at the least. The notes he was using had been written about two years ago, using a book he had rented from the county library. It would provide different insight on what they were studying than the book they were currently using. He hadn't looked at the stuff in a long time. He was pretty sure he remembered all of it, but it wouldn't hurt to refresh his knowledge.

"So, what're all those binders for?"

Jack looked up at Ana's whispered words. "What?"

"That's a lot of binders. What are they for?"

Jack glanced down at them. "Ah." If he told her, she'd tell Aster… That would seal his fate, but it was pretty much sealed as it was and he wouldn't have to start up the conversation if she told him. "Aster was asking about tutoring, so I'm looking over the old notes I've got stuffed away in here."

Ana's face instantly went from curious to excited. With a pang of guilt, he noticed that she looked a lot like Emma when she did that. "Really?!" Her voice rose a few decibels before she quickly hushed down again. "That's great! Aster didn't think you were actually going to help, even though he thought you could really bring a lot to the tutoring. He'll be really happy you decided to."

"Yeah, I'll go tell him later…"

"Do you have another class together?" she asked, seeming a bit impatient.

"No-"

"I can go get him now!"

"No, that's fine-"

She was already gone. Jack sighed, thumping his head down on the table with a groan. He could hear the sound of Sandy's breath coming out in quick puffs of silent laughter. "Oh, be quiet," he muttered into the wood beneath his head. Sandy laughed harder, if the pace of his breathing was anything to go by.

He had raised his head and was looking through the next few pages when he heard the library door open again. He looked up briefly to see Ana and Aster walking in. It seems like they had just left North at the lunch table. That was too bad. He would've been able to break up some of the awkwardness more than anyone else.

Aster and Ana sat down a few seconds later. From Aster's expression, she hadn't actually told him what this was about and had just dragged him along. He looked rather annoyed, and his irritation increased when he saw the binders on the table. "After ya lugged all those home, ya brought 'em _back_?"

"No, I left these two in my locker," Jack snapped.

Ana rubbed a hand over her face. "Jack, just tell him what the binders are for."

Jack sighed, sinking lower into his chair. "A few years ago, in the seventh grade, I borrowed books ahead of what we were learning in school and studied ahead. A lot of them were math books. If you want help starting up the tutoring, I figured it'd be easier if you had different ideas on particular lessons. I'll have to make sure that both the books and my notes are in the same order, but after I do, we'll be able to use them."

Aster stared at him for a few seconds. "Ya took the binders home 'cause ya needed ta look at 'em for the tutorin'?"

"Yeah. One of the chemistry teachers was keeping them all for me in a spare drawer, and it was easier to just take them home then have to go back to her room every day for more of the binders."

Aster leaned back in his chair, staring off into space for a minute. "How many?"

"Of the math binders, or all of the binders?"

"All of 'em."

Jack thought for a second. "I think there're eight for math, covering Algebra one and two, Geometry, Trig, Prob and Stats, Calculus AB and BC, Integrated, and Discrete. I've got five for science: Physical Science, Earth Science, physics, chemistry, and biology. I've only got a few on history. I wasn't as interested in those, and I only really started that up once I ran out of science and math. I'd been looking for ones that would take me longer to get through. I've got a half a binder on French and Spanish each, so you're going to need someone else to help with that. I've got one that combines the basics of journalism, creative writing, and public speaking. So… however many that is. About nineteen or twenty, I think."

Aster pointed to the two binders in front of him. "An' they're all that large?"

"Most of them. A few are a bit larger, some are smaller."

Aster eyed him. "A bit bored or somethin'?"

Jack kept the grimace off his face and shrugged it off. "You could say that."

"Can I look over some of 'em sometime?"

"In for some late night reading?" Jack bantered lightly. Aster gave him a dirty look.

"No, idiot, it's fer my health," he snapped. "Can we use 'em for tutorin'?"

"Of course not, I just lugged them a few miles to get home for _my_ health."

Ana looked between the two in disbelief. "You two really don't get along very well, do you?"

"What gave you that impression?" Jack muttered under his breath. To Aster, he continued, "I'll have to ask Mrs. Barrett again if she'll let me keep them in the drawer. I don't see why she would say no."

"Why were they here anyway?"

"My room's a mess and there wasn't enough space. As you pointed out, they're a bit on the large side and they take up a lot of space." He tapped the cover of the binder directly in front of him. "These were not taken from the books we have at our school. I had to go through the county library, and they had to go through the library in the capitol to get the books I used because the high school refused to lend me books. These notes are reliable, but might not cover the same material we're learning in class. I haven't compared them to our books yet. And that's going to take a while, let me tell you."

Aster grunted. "Alright. I can help wi' that. Just let me know which ones ya want me workin' on."

Jack nodded testily. "What classes are you taking right now?"

"Trig, English, World History, Biology."

"I'll bring in those binders tomorrow. I don't have one specifically dedicated to English, though, so I'll hold onto the one with general information. I went over it last night, and I know which books I need to look through for that. Who are we tutoring?"

Aster gave him a confused look. "What d'ya mean?"

"I mean, which grade level? Certain classes, certain academic fields…?"

The look turned into one of slight pity as Aster realized Jack wasn't grasping the magnitude of it. "Frosty, we're settin' up the tutorin' program for the entire school."

Jack stared at him for a second. "Well, it's good I've got so many binders then… Have you talked to any of the teachers?"

"Mr. Vanesburg gave the okay so long as we got some teachers ta help, and Mr. Watson an' Mrs. Brendan said they would definitely assist."

"Watson and Brendan hate me."

"Not my fault. Ask Mrs. Barrett if she wants to."

"I can do that," Jack said, nodding to himself. "I think she'll agree to it. When are we starting this up?"

"After winter break. I think that gives us enough time to go through all the binders, right?"

It was Jack's turn to look at him in pity. "It's possible, but I hope you're ready to sell your soul for the next few months for this tutoring program if you want to use the binders."

"What exactly is in 'em? Just notes?"

"Notes, easier methods of remembering stuff, shortcuts for math, some connections between stuff that was happening in history… It's not just the regular notes. I agree that it'll help, I'm just saying that it's a lot."

"We'll use 'em, then."

"Are you going to tutor the French and Spanish students as well?" Ana asked.

Aster nodded. "Everyone." He glanced at Jack. "You said you don't have many notes for those two classes?"

He shook his head, but Ana smiled. "I can do that! I'm only taking French for language credits. I traveled around the world when I was younger, and I ended up fluent in several languages, including French and Spanish."

Her smile was infectious, and Jack grinned. "Well, there you go. Language classes are taken care of."

"How helpful will the history ones be? Ya said ya didn' have many…"

"No, but what I do have is a bunch of timelines of what was going on at the same time and some important details. You'll need more information than what I've got, but we have books for that and history is mostly understanding it."

The scribbling of a pencil interrupted their thought process, and they turned to Sandy while he finished what he was writing and showed the pad to them. _North,_ it said. When they had read it, he pointed to himself and nodded to say he could help too.

"Looks like that covers everything but the arts, and I'll bet the kids would help each other with that," Jack said.

"Still think the next semester will be too soon ta start?"

Jack smirked. "Oh, we'll be ready."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A/n: Feel free to request a scene. Actually, I encourage it, because I only know what's going to happen with the plot. The only thing I'm not going to do is a pairing, because I'm not good at romance. (I can do jokes about a pairing, though.)

Speaking of the plot, it's not actually centered specifically around the suicide attempt. That's _part_ of it (a big part), but there's stuff that's interconnected with it. The plot centers more around what Pitch is starting to do in this chapter, trying to manipulate Jack, but the suicide attempt is going to play a huge part.

Lastly, I did some clever things (well, _I_ think they're clever) with symbolism connecting back to their characters in the movie. Do you want me to tell you some of this stuff, since it won't be obvious, or do you just want to try and figure it out? Some of it might be too subtle for that, though… Up to you.


	5. Chapter 5

**October 20**

Jack was smiling slightly when he walked into his house that afternoon. He and Aster were still arguing, but it was beginning to dim down since they were working together. Anything he told Emma now would, more likely than not, be the truth and he wouldn't have to worry about the half-lies any more. It would all turn out fine so long as she never asked about the project on the eighteenth that he had never had.

A smashing sound from the kitchen broke him out of his reverie and got his attention. It sounded like someone had broken a glass. His father was cussing, but the words were so slurred together he couldn't even make out what was being said. Jack silently went up the stairs before he was noticed, which was even more difficult than normal because of his leg, although it wasn't likely his father could even see straight if he was that drunk again.

His sister's door was open, and he could see her working on homework at her desk through the crack. He pushed it open, slipping in and closing the door behind him. "Hey, Emma," he greeted her.

She turned around quickly. "Jack!"

"How do you always get home before I do even though your school lets out half an hour later?" he chided lightly, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're slow."

"Oh really?" he teased. "How about we race later tonight and see who's really slow?"

Her face flushed as he called her out on it. "I've got a friend who drives me home. He lives a few miles away, but he has to pass our house anyway so he drops me off."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "A friend, hm?"

"Don't say it like that! He's just a friend!"

"I didn't know you flushed bright red whenever you talked about your friends, Emma. We should talk more often so I can figure out these strange quirks of yours. What's his name?"

"Jamie. He's got this adorable sister named Sophie who goes home with us. The elementary school lets out at the same time the middle school does, so we just walk over there and his dad picks us all up and takes us home." She bounced slightly in her seat. "You have to meet him some day. He's really funny and really smart. He'll take this stupid stuff no one even stops to consider and shows how it's important to everyday life."

"Tell him to hang around a bit longer and wait for me to get home," Jack pointed out. "Can't meet him if he's somewhere else."

"I'll see if he can stay longer sometime," she said, grinning.

"Okay, we talked about my friends yesterday-"

"Yes! How are they?"

"We're talking about your friends today," he corrected, smirking. "I don't know anything about your friends, except for this… Jamie."

"Don't say it like we've got something going on!" she said, laughing.

"I never said you did!" He put his hands up in the air in a sign of surrender. "You're good friends, I'm sure it's nothing more."

"Oh, shut up!"

"Talk about your friends and I will."

That was how he spent the next hour listening and talking to his sister about everyday life. Her personality had completely turned around from just a few days ago when she had been quiet and reserved towards him. To think she had been acting that way the entire time because she thought he hated her… Maybe it was a good thing, though, that she didn't know what he'd done in their time apart. Some things were best left unsaid.

Their hour of sharing ended when another loud sound came from the kitchen. Both flinched instinctually, looking at each other with grimaces on their faces. A moment had barely passed before their mother began yelling at their father. She had probably just gotten home, and this wasn't a good way to finish her day. The loud argument increased in volume, until they could clearly hear what was being said.

Jack winced again. "They're right on time, as usual," he said, smiling at his own bad joke. She returned the expression. "Hey, Emma, I know I'm not always around…"

"It's not your fault," she said as she tried to tune out their parents' argument so she could focus on their conversation. "I was the one who distanced myself from you."

"I know, but this means I haven't always paid attention either. I know Dad's blacked out a few times when he's drunk…"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask this. Has he ever hit you?"

Emma stared at him for a moment, mouth agape. He continued looking at her, expression torn between a wince and a grimace. "Has he ever…?"

"Harmed you in any way?" Jack finished. "Yelled at you, hit you…?" He was about to add more, but figured that was descriptive enough for the question.

"No…" She trailed off, still confused. She hadn't ever expected to be asked that question. "No, of course not." A thought struck her, and she jerked slightly as she looked him sharply. "Wait, has he-?"

"No, no, he's never hurt me," Jack hastily said, holding up his hands and shaking his head back and forth. "But I'm bigger and always in my room. I didn't know how often you went downstairs while he was in that mood."

"I'm almost never down there," she said. "Especially after he's had more than two drinks." She lowered her voice, even though they could both easily hear that their parents were still in the kitchen. "I think it's getting worse. Like, a lot worse. He barely drank more than four beers at a time last year, but now he's drinking… I don't even know how much at a time. Can he knock himself out from how much he drinks?"

"He has," Jack said grimly. "If he drinks too much, he can also overload his system and kill himself."

Emma flinched, and Jack regretted saying that. She needed to understand that, though. "Can we get him to stop, do you think? Or at least decrease the amount?"

He started to say something, and then stopped to think his words through first. A part of him hoped that their father would comatose himself one day, but he couldn't tell her that. "I don't know. If you really want to, we can try. I mean, they say every year in health class when we cover alcoholism that we're supposed to report it to someone and they can get the alcoholic rehab, but… He doesn't even realize it's a problem."

She fidgeted slightly.

"Sorry to bring this up."

"No, it's okay. We needed to talk about it at some point."

Jack nodded, noticing her distress. He sighed. "Look, if you really want, I can talk to him about it some time, okay?"

She smiled slightly at him. "Thanks." Her smile dropped, becoming a bit nervous. "But before he's had something to drink, okay?"

Jack tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "When else would he even be thinking? I swear, I once saw him try to plug the toaster cord into one of the legs of the table. He had the table turned on its side and everything."

Emma snorted in laughter. "I know! He's done some pretty crazy stuff."

Jack grinned. "Hey, mind if we move into my room? I need to find some stuff for the tutoring to take to school tomorrow."

"Yeah, sure," she said, grabbing her homework and carrying it with her to his room.

The dark room was a big adjustment from the open and inviting room that hers was. He hadn't paid nearly as much attention to his room that she had to hers. She sat down on his bed, legs crossed, and watched him as he moved around the room. He kicked some stuff aside to clear the floor. "It's a mess in here. Have you ever thought about cleaning it up?"

"I've briefly considered it, but never had the time." He picked up a book that was on the ground, tried to read the title in the dark instead of simply turning on the light, and then tossed it over into a pile with some other books when he gave up. "I might need to make time if this gets much worse, though…"

"Weren't you looking for something?"

"Oh yeah! Binders, binders…" He moved across the room, doing his best to conceal his limp, to where the huge stack of binders he had carried home was arranged. They were grouped according to subject and had the hardest at the bottom and the easiest on top. "Okay, I think he said Trig, history, and biology…" He carefully pulled the Trig book out first, taking care to not knock the entire stack over. "I think he said he's taking world history right now, so he'll need this one…" He tugged out a binder that focused on that field. After a moment of hesitation, he took one next to it that covered a similar field.

"What are these?" she asked, gesturing at the stacks.

"Oh, this? I had nothing to do for a while, so I skipped ahead and started working on courses I hadn't taken yet. These are all my notes. It got a bit out of hand…" He grinned sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "Just a bit."

"Really…" she said, looking over the tops of them. "How many trees did you kill to write all that?"

"Probably a small forest full of them," he responded easily. "And here's the biology one!"

"What do you need these for?" Emma asked. "Are you going to use them for tutoring?"

"Yep! I didn't look off the books at the high school, though, so I've got to see if these are missing some information from our books. I don't think there will be very much that's different, but it doesn't hurt to check."

She stared at the stacks. "Wait, you have to check _all_ of that?"

He nodded. "Yep."

She continued looking at them. "Hey, forget about the room. You've got other problems."

He snorted. "You can say that again."

"Forget about the-"

"Smart aleck."

She grinned. "Hey, are you going on the New York trip?"

He shook his head. "Nah. I have to have the permission slip and payment turned in by Friday, and I don't think either of our parents will sign and we don't have the money for it. It's fine. I can get through a bunch of these binders while everyone else is away."

"Isn't it four days long over winter break?"

"Yeah."

She looked at him with a sad expression. "It could be fun."

"Yeah, I know. I've just got other things to do." He looked down to avoid her expression, looking through the binders. She continued looking at him with those sad eyes.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 21**

Jack dropped the stack of binders on the table in front of Aster. No one else was in the library at the moment to care about the loud sound. North had pulled up a fifth chair to the table and was already talking to Sandy about the history part of tutoring. They all looked at him at the loud sound he made. "No offense, but aren't you all going to be a little hungry if you skip lunch all the time?"

"This is gonna take a while, mate," Aster grunted. "A few skipped lunches is worth it if we can get this finished before break. These're the binders I've got books fer?"

"Yeah." He looked at the other three. "What classes do you have? I can get binders for the books you've got, too."

Sandy scribbled down his classes on a piece of paper, tore it off, and then passed the paper to Ana. She wrote down her classes and passed the paper on to North. When he finished, Jack took the paper back. "Alright. I'll get these to school tomorrow." He turned to Aster. "I talked to Mrs. Barrett, and she said she's going to look at her schedule."

"Good. I talked to Mr. Vanesburg yes'erday, an' he said he's gonna see about keepin' the buildin' open a bit longer so the kids can work after school. He jus' said ta remind everyone that there won' be any buses for those who stay," Aster reported. "Ana, how're the languages goin'?"

"I think I can get the basics of both classes done by winter break, and I can definitely have it all done by February."

"That's good. Sandy an' North, you guys got history?"

Sandy nodded an affirmative.

"Jack, you want math or science?"

Jack paused, thinking it over, before saying, "Math. I can get those done faster and get to work on something else once I'm done." The whole situation seemed a bit surreal. He had never actually worked with a group of people like this except when it came to school projects. Even then, the kids either ignored him and did all the work or gave everything to him to do.

"I'll start on science, then," Aster said.

"How are the kids going to know it's starting up?" Ana asked. "You're going to have to spread the word around somehow."

"That will take long time," North pointed out. "Most of kids might not accept help."

"Hey, Aster," Jack said, "I can take the science so you can work on that."

Aster gave him a surprised look. "Really?"

"Sure. Science and math are my strong suits anyway."

The two continued staring at each other for a second, each trying to evaluate the other. They broke eye contact to go back to work. "Okay," Aster continued, "let's sort this out. We've got someone from the English, science, an' math departments. Ana, can ya ask one of the foreign languages teachers? I'll talk ta the sports coaches ta find the best times fer this."

"You know swimming times already," North pointed out and Aster nodded.

"We won' have ta worry 'bout any that are endin' now," Aster said, almost to himself. "Anythin' else I need to ask about?"

No one could think of anything.

"Alright then."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Reconsidered?" Pitch asked behind him. Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers. The guy just didn't stop. "It's not too late."

Jack turned around in his chair, glaring at Pitch. "What could you _possibly_ need me for? I'm not working for someone who doesn't even tell the truth about my employment." He kept his voice low to avoid anyone around them hearing their conversation. That could get awkward really fast.

Pitch laced his fingers together in front of him. "It just so happens that a few of my usual runners have been tagged by the police as being suspicious and I'm low on staff as a result. You were my best. I haven't had anyone with as good of a record for deliveries as you." Pitch lowered his voice even more, leaning forward a bit. "Come on, Jack. This is the only job you've ever had that you've been _respected_ in. Valued. Appreciated."

"I haven't even had a job before!"

"I don't mean employment in particular. I mean roles in life. Your teachers ignore you. Your fellow classmates think you're useless. You can barely get along with your family. Do you even have any friends? Come on, the only think Bunnymund wants is your notes. We both know that. You had friends while working for me. I remember a group of you who would get together and laugh and joke all the time. You had fun. It's okay that you left. How long ago was that? Three years ago? Two? We were having a change in staff anyway, since a few of them graduated and left for college. It was good for change. But you're good, Jack. You're _really_ good. The police even spoke to you that one time when someone tipped them off, and they didn't even stop to search your backpack. They could've arrested four of us if they had, but you completely fooled them! Just once? For old times' sake?"

Jack glared. "No, Pitch. I'm done. The thrill of almost getting arrested is fun for some people, but I don't find any pleasure in it."

Pitch leaned back in his seat, folding his arms in irritation. The bell rang. Jack gathered up his books and stood up. His bad leg crumpled slightly, but he picked up the slack with his right. As if it would help, he shot a reproachful glare at it. Pitch watched the whole thing from the desk behind Jack, filing it away for later evaluation.

Jack went to his locker and dropped off his books for government. He filled his backpack with his Trig book so he could finish his homework. There wasn't any need to bring his backpack home right now, but it would make it easier in the morning when he was bringing the binders in. He hoisted the backpack onto his shoulder and put his hand on the locker door, about to push it close.

A sudden pain erupted in his leg and he stumbled forward, slamming the locker close. An arm caught him before he fell, but it did little to distract him from the sudden pain in his leg. He hissed in several breaths before looking up at Pitch. "_Seriously_?" he demanded.

Pitch raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong with your leg? I wonder what could have happened?"

"Piss off."

Pitch smirked, letting go of Jack and walking away. Jack stumbled slightly before catching his balance, trying to avoid standing on his injured leg. He glared over his shoulder at Pitch, who briefly waved over his shoulder at them in farewell. Jack pushed against the locker, standing to his full height on his right leg with his left foot resting uneasily against the ground. It would be extremely hard for Pitch to figure out what had happened with the little information he had, but Pitch wasn't one to give up easily. If he did find out, the result wouldn't be pretty.

The only thing less pretty than those hypothetical results was his walk home with the injury reopened.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 22**

The bell rang to end his English class. Jack had, for once, managed to stay awake during it. He'd actually been able to get to sleep at a reasonable time last night, which had been a welcome change from the norm. He was gathering his books together, about to follow the rest of the students out of his room, when he heard Mr. Watson call his name.

Jack glanced up, looking across the room at the English teacher. Mr. Watson glanced past Jack, and added, "Aster, you better stay, too."

Aster set his books down on his desk. "Is this about the tutoring?"

"No, actually. It's about the New York trip."

Jack frowned. "Wait, I'm not going. I-"

"Actually, you are." Jack's frown deepened as Mr. Watson continued. "The paperwork and payment was turned in this morning to the office."

Jack looked at Aster, mouthing the word 'You?' Aster shrugged, shaking his head.

"No, it was someone else. Since you didn't know you were going, you didn't listen to anything about the trip or take any of the papers that described the trip." He took a packet off his desk and handed it to him. "Here, this is the paperwork that was passed out. If you could have your parents fill it out and have it turned in by next week, it'll clear up most of the confusion."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know how this happened. I'm not going."

"Just ask your mother about this, and I think you'll see I'm right. Fill out the paperwork and turn it in soon, alright?"

Bewildered, Jack nodded.

"Okay, what's this got ta do with me?" Aster said.

"Almost all of the other groups have reached their limit of five people. Jack doesn't know anyone in any of the other groups who have open spots, and I'm aware that the two of you have a testy relationship at best."

"That's putting it mildly," Jack muttered.

"Yes, but if you're going to work together to start up the tutoring, you're going to have to learn how to deal with each other." Jack and Aster gave each other distrustful looks before turning back to their English teacher. He took one look at their expressions and smirked lightly. "It's only four days."

Jack sighed silently, running a hand through his hair. "Do I really have to do this? Who even paid for it?"

"They asked to remain anonymous, although I know for a fact that you know them. So, you two are fine with this?"

"I'd really rather not," Jack said while Aster shook his head vehemently.

"Great, then you better spend some more time together before hand so you don't strangle each other halfway through the trip. _That'd_ be interesting to explain to the EMTs."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: Pitch is a senior because fear is brief, and the Guardians are all freshmen and sophomores because hope, wonder, memories, fun, and dreams last longer.

I wasn't really trying to conceal the identity of the donator for Jack going on the trip, but if I did, good for me.


	6. Chapter 6

**October 25**

"I think we got it all filled out," Jack said, handing the papers to Mr. Watson. He took them and flipped through quickly, nodding to himself. "Am I ever going to know who the funder is?"

"Up to them, I suppose," he responded. He looked up from the papers. "Yeah, this is it. There's nothing else you're going to need to do other than get on the bus when it leaves and not kill Aster out of impatience during the trip." Jack nodded and turned to walk away. "Oh, and Jack?"

He paused, turning to look back at him. "Hm?"

"Don't fall asleep in class again."

Jack gave a chagrined smile, waved, and walked out of the classroom. School had ended, and most of the hallways were empty. He had decided to give Mr. Watson the papers after school so he wouldn't end on a bad note with Pitch in his last class. Pitch hadn't done anything particularly bad today, but he was still getting on his nerves. He had knocked Jack's progress back on his healing leg by several days due to his little stunt on Friday.

He'd gotten used to Aster waiting for him outside a door by this point and matching pace with him, so he knew who it was as soon as he felt the presence by his side. "Did you find good dates for the tutoring?"

"I think if we jus' do it every day, people can come whenever they want," Aster said. "I think that's the best option. There's no way we'd have a day of the week that's jus' tutorin' wi'out any sports conflicts."

"Hm. Yeah, that'd work nicely," Jack agreed. "Plus, the kids who don't really want to come will be more likely to if it's not strictly certain days. We could get more people that way."

Aster grunted. "Yeah. So, I've been meanin' to ask. Are ya a prodigy, or do ya just really love academics?"

Jack burst out laughing. "Not a prodigy, no. And I _hate_ academics."

Aster frowned, confused. "But you spent all that time workin' on the binders."

"Yeah." Jack's expression lost a bit of its shine. "I wasn't working on it because I liked doing it."

Aster decided not to push it. It looked like he was already in dangerous territory. "Okay… How many were you able to check over the weekend?"

"I got through Algebra I and Geometry. I spent a day on each."

"Yer doin' a lot," Aster said awkwardly. "An' yer gonna be doin' even more. It's really gonna help some a' the kids who're strugglin'."

"I hope so," Jack replied with a small laugh. "It'd kinda suck if we did all this for nothing."

"Yeah, but… Jus' sayin, yer doin' a lot. …Thanks."

Jack shrugged slightly. They walked the rest of the way out of the school in silence. It wasn't awkward or companionable – just silence.

"I've got ta go stop by Sandy's," Aster said, "so I'm gonna take a different route than I usu'lly do."

"Alright. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya."

They went opposite ways, neither glancing back at the other. Jack's limp made him a bit slower than normal, but it had been healing up nicely. He was able to push through the pain enough to stretch out the muscles and keep them working, although the amount of exertion he pushed on it may have been slowing the healing process. He had too many other things to worry about without adding that to the list, though, so he chose to ignore it. If he wanted to complain about it, he would've gotten a wheelchair.

It had snowed overnight, and everything had a few inches of snow laying over it. The white covering made it harder to tell, but there was still a clear distinction between the houses up by the school that were nice and well-kept, and the houses a few miles down the road that were poor and used with disregard for tidiness. In the last few years, the boundary between those two zones had moved and included his house in it. With all the financial problems his parents were having, taking care of the house was the least of their issues.

There were a few dogs along the way that greeted him when he went by. Luckily, none of them were guard dogs who would try to chase him down the street. There were several that he would stop and pet, having walked them for their owners years ago. He still did that on occasion, but his sister had taken over a lot of it now. Not all of the dogs were out in the yards because of the bitter cold. Jack wasn't sure if the ones outside just loved the snow or if they were loved less by their owners. If Jack were a dog, he figured that he could say he was the latter.

When he arrived at his driveway, he stopped to check the mailbox. Finding it empty, he walked on down the gravel path. His limp had become more pronounced as the increasing pain made it harder and harder to hide, but he could slack off on concealing it until he stepped inside. Unfortunately, the porch was underneath his feet far too soon. Inside this house was one of the last places he wanted to be. It was also one of the few places he was welcomed.

He opened the door and stepped inside, kicking snow off his shoes as he did so. He knocked them off and shoved them out of the way of the door before jogging up the stairs, stepping lightly to avoid further irritating his injury. A thud from the kitchen made him stop at the top of the stairs. Swears floated up from his father. Having heard this before, he ignored it and went into his room to drop off his backpack so he didn't have to lug it into Emma's room. He had dropped the backpack on the bed and was about to walk down the hall when he heard another thud and crash. It sounded like the trashcan had just been knocked over.

His father couldn't have had _that _many drinks already, could he have? Jack paused for a minute, drumming his fingers on his backpack. It took a few seconds, but he strengthened his resolve, sucked in a few deep breaths, and then traipsed back down the stairs.

As expected, trash was strewn over the kitchen floor. His father was standing in the blast radius, trying to kick most of it back into the bin that had been knocked over. His soccer game wasn't going very well for him. It looked like the trash was winning. He was getting furious at it, flailing his arms and kicking at it as best as he could.

Jack reached out and took hold of one of the flailing arms. "Dad," he called out. His father didn't respond, so he yelled it louder, yanking on the arm. His father jerked towards him, glaring. Jack tightened his lips and said, "We need to talk."

His father frowned. "About what?"

"Your drinking. You've become an alcoholic. It's wasting a lot of money, and you're wasting a lot of time. You've got to do something about it."

The man in front of him snorted. "I've heard this from your mother. I don't need to hear it from you."

"Don't you think that means something, that two of us have said something about it?" Jack demanded.

"It's got nothing to do with you. Stay out of it."

"Yeah, it does, when you get drunk all the time and break crap and cause a ruckus!" Jack snapped irritably. "You've got to do something about it!"

"I don't have to do something about anything!" his father yelled back. "And I especially don't have to do anything _you_ tell me to do!"

"I'm your _child_. Doesn't my opinion count for _anything_?"

"It's not something for you to worry about. Grown-up matters."

"I've been falling asleep in my English class because you keep me up at night making a ruckus and then crashing, and if you don't do that, you and Mom just bang each other all night and I _still_ can't get to sleep because you're room's right next to mine!"

"Watch your mouth!"

"Watch your hands!"

"You got soap to clean that mouth out with?"

"I don't know, I think you spent all the money for soap on alcohol!"

His father snarled, taking a step forward and grabbing his shoulder. "You listen-"

"Jared!" Jack heard his mother cry out from the stairs. "Let him go!"

Jack ripped his arm away, stepping out of reach of his father and glaring. "Do _not_ touch me."

"You disrespectful, stupid, goddamned-"

"All you can is call me names?" Jack snorted. "Wow, aren't we mature?"

"This is my home! Don't you dare insult me here!"

"This is my home too!" Jack yelled back. "This is all I've ever known!"

"Both of you!" his mother screamed at them. "Stop it! Now!"

Neither listened.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 26**

"Did ya run inta a wall or somethin'?" Aster asked before the bell rang. He and Jack were sitting in English with about a minute to go before it officially started. Aster had moved up a seat so he could talk comfortably to him. There weren't many other kids in the class yet, but there were enough to cause a modest buzz of conversation around the room.

"No," Jack said, shaking his head. Aster was referring to the growing bruise along his jaw. At least his father had been smart enough to avoid places where bruising could mean nothing but a fight. Jack hadn't been as kind in return. At least his father didn't have a job right now, or he'd have to explain a badly broken nose. "My leg gave out on the stairs and I fell." He'd planned the statement in advance for when someone would ask the very question Aster had just given.

Aster frowned. "I thought yer leg was getting' better."

"Yeah, I did too," Jack said. He rubbed it absently. "Still hurts."

"Have ya taken pain meds fer it? It looked like it was gonna be painful," Aster said.

"No. My parents don't even know what happened."

Aster frowned. "Ya should tell 'em. They're around fer a reason."

Jack shrugged noncommittally. The bell rang, and Aster moved back to his old seat. Jack could feel his gaze on the back of his head, but didn't acknowledge it. Throughout the class period, he kept his head up and didn't go to sleep. Last night had been a little too exciting for him. He was wearing a sweatshirt to cover a few bruises on his arms and neck, and he suspected he'd be wearing it for a long while until the bruises began to fade.

The class was over quickly, it seemed, and Trigonometry went by even faster. He spent lunch in the library, like usual, with Aster and his friends. Algebra II, which he had been forced to take because it was a required class, was so incredibly boring he would almost have rather been back at home yelling at his father again. Still, the quick passing of the day was horrible for Jack, knowing that he would get home sooner.

Government was by far the worst class of the day, and it was all Pitch's fault.

Pitch had switched places with the person behind him and sat behind him the entire time, muttering threats and bribes. Jack had ignored most of it until about halfway through the class.

"Father bothering you?"

The lead on Jack's pencil broke and bounced off his desk.

"Hmm, that's a yes. Interesting. It's alcoholism, isn't it? Would you like me to do something about it?"

Responding would be giving him what he wanted, so Jack simply took out another pencil and finished what he was writing. Pitch seemed content to hum for a few seconds to himself while he thought.

"No, you want to deal with it on your own… But does your sister? You've always cared about her. Does she like hearing him get drunk? You know, speaking of your sister, our market expanded recently to cover her age group. I think the police are in on that by now because a few of them got caught. It wouldn't take them long to prosecute her if she were found to be in possession of illegal drugs after someone tipped off the police."

"Do that and it's your funeral," Jack snarled under his breath. He could almost sense Pitch smirk behind him.

"Oh? She'll still be in jail, though. You're not going to have any proof otherwise."

"Leave her alone."

"Just run something once for me."

Jack closed his eyes and rubbed the side of his nose with his thumb.

"It's just one drop. You can go on your merry way after that."

"I don't want to."

"I don't want to tip off the police that your sister was carrying-"

"When?

"In two days."

Jack ran his hands over his face, sighing silently. "Right after school?"

"If that's more convenient for you."

"Where to?"

"I'll tell you right beforehand." Pitch leaned back in his chair, severing the rest of the conversation.

The bell rang twenty minutes later. Pitch clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder as he passed him. "Good to have you back. Try not to damage that leg again before Thursday, okay?" He didn't wait around for Jack's response.

His leg hurt worse than it ever had before on the walk home.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Emma was waiting on the porch when Jack got home. She stood up as he came into view, impatiently shifting from foot to foot. He frowned, opening his mouth to ask what she was doing out here. She clapped her hand over his mouth, shaking her head, and took his arm. Jack followed as she led him around to the back of the house. A ladder was leaning against the side of the house by his window. The window had been opened an inch or so.

"Emma…" he whispered. She shushed him quickly and climbed the ladder up to his window. He held onto the bottom of it to keep it steady while she pushed the window pane up enough for her to climb in. Then she turned around, and held the ladder steady from the top while he climbed up. She stepped out of the way so he could slip in. "Emma, what's going on?"

She sat down on his bed, biting her lip. "Dad's not happy."

"Yeah, I'm not either," Jack said, folding his arms. "Did we just climb up the side of the house to avoid him?" She grimaced and he groaned. "I am not hiding from him! If he's got a problem with me, I guess he better get it out in the open!"

"No, Jack!" she hissed loudly as he walked to the door. "Please, don't!"

He stopped at the 'please' and looked back at her. "Emma, I'm not going to let him bully me around."

"Please, you're both hurt! Just leave it alone for a day, alright?"

Jack crouched down beside the bed, looking her in the eyes. "Emma, what happens when he realizes I should've been home by now, finds out we climbed up the side of the house, and comes up here to look for me?"

Emma ducked her head, trying to stifle her tears. He sighed, rubbing her head and hugging her. "Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm really glad I have a sister like you."

He stood up and walked out the door. She sat there for a few minutes longer, listening as the yelling started up almost immediately.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 27**

Jack left the house early before his father got up and waited for school to start on the curb. Last night had been slightly better than Monday night, because they had just spent seven straight hours yelling at each other. Both had hoarse voices now, but at least they weren't sporting any more bruises.

"Jack."

He looked up, exhausted, at the Australian. "What?" It took him a few seconds to push through the haze in his mind to realize that Aster was angry about something. "Aster?"

"Is there somethin' ya need to tell me about?"

A cold hand gripped his heart. There was no way he could have known about his father. No one outside the family knew, and Aster had only met Jack before. "No…" He didn't completely succeed in keeping the uneasiness out of his expression and tone.

Aster's jaw tightened, calling him out on the lie. "Oh?"

"Yeah."

" 'Cause I've got a good friend in your government class who says you do."

Jack's expression went from worried to confused in a second. "Wait, what?"

"Didn' think ya were in dealin's with Pitch."

Oh. _Oh. _Okay, that was slightly better than Aster finding out about his father, but he didn't want Aster knowing about that either. It hadn't really occurred to him how many secrets he was keeping until then.

"W-what?"

"My friend was sittin' next ta the two of ya in class and caught a bit of your conversation."

"I didn't-"

Aster reached down, grabbing a hold of his sweatshirt and hauling him up. Jack bit back a cry of pain as his leg turned in a bad direction and multiple bruises along his back and shoulders screamed out at him. Aster was too angry to notice his pained look. "Don' lie ta me!"

"I'm not with Pitch!"

"Sorry if I don' take yer word for it!"

"Why would I help that bastard?"

"You tell me!"

"Aster, I hate drugs as much as you! I'd never work with Pitch!"

"Tha's not wha it sounds like ta me!"

"Aster-"

"Either don' lie ta me or don' talk ta me!" Aster yelled at him.

"_I'm not lying_!"

Aster snarled wordlessly at him, turned on his heel, and stalked away. Jack felt a pang of guilt, but it wasn't for lying to Aster. It was because all he saw walking away from him was not a potential friend but an opportunity to make things right with his sister.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Aster shouldn't we be going to the library to meet Jack?" Ana asked. The Australian shook his head, continuing to pull the other three into an empty classroom. He closed the door when they were all in and turned to face them. "He's going to be waiting for us."

"Jack's workin' wi' Pitch," Aster deadpanned. Nick frowned and Sandy looked confused. Ana's words paused in her mouth. "Sharon told me this mornin'. She said she was worried 'cause she knew we had started workin' with 'im on the tutorin'."

"Oh…" Ana breathed.

"I did not think… He did not seem the type to work with Pitch," North said. He folded his arms. "What do we do?"

"I'm not workin' with someone who'd work wi' Pitch," Aster said firmly. "I jus' wanted to let ya know before I told 'im off."

Sandy held up his pad of paper. _Misunderstanding?_

"Sorry, Sandy, but I don' think so. I didn' think he'd do somethin' like this…"

"Let's give him a few days. Maybe he'll turn it around and get back on track," Ana said hesitantly. "A few days won't hurt, right?"

"I don't want to lead 'im on if I'm gonna drop him from the team later," Aster said. "It's cruel."

"When will you tell him?" North asked quietly. "I cannot believe he would do this…"

"I can' either," Aster said, sighing. "I'll tell 'im tomorrow. I'll give 'im that much time, I s'pose." He glanced at Ana, who nodded her thanks. "Sorry I had to tell ya this, but I didn' think it would be fair to jus' suddenly tell ya I sent 'im away."

"A fifth person would've been nice," Ana mumbled.

Aster nodded, grimacing. "Yeah. But not Jack."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: THIS IS NOT AN ABUSE STORY. I really don't want to have Jack's father yell at him, but since he had no parents in the movie, this is how I'm taking his parents away in the story. This part isn't going to be long either. I promise.

Remember, feel free to request a scene!


	7. Chapter 7

**October 27**

He still couldn't believe Jack would work with Pitch on anything, let alone drugs. But Sharon had never let him down before, and Jack's record was less than clean for honesty. He couldn't risk bringing in Jack if that meant bringing in Pitch, too. The tutoring program was _not_ going to become a way for Pitch to spread more crap throughout the student population. If protecting his program meant throwing Jack out, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

Jack wasn't making it easy on him. He had come up to his locker during nearly every break between classes, trying to convince him he had nothing to do with Pitch. It really was enough to make Aster doubt Sharon. But Jack _never_ pleaded, and he suspected it was just Pitch speaking through someone else. It wasn't like he was throwing Jack out to the wolves or anything, right? He had friends he could go to.

A nagging voice in the back of his head said he didn't. Jack didn't hang out with anyone. That's why he stayed in the library during lunch. He didn't have any friends to talk to. The closest thing he had was a group of people who just wanted to use him for his notes. And in a very distant second, the next thing he had was Pitch.

Would Jack be okay without them? He'd been on his own for so long and he'd just had a taste of companionship with others. The more that he thought about it, Jack's actions made sense without Pitch's involvement. Friends were a necessary part of growing up, and Jack never had any. The first ones he ever had were now calling him a liar and pushing him away. It must have been horrible. Even if he was involved with Pitch, his emotions couldn't have been faked when he was talking to Aster at his locker. He was frustrated and worried that he was going to lose the few friends he had, if they could be called that. Would this loss shock him into giving up his relationship with Pitch?

He was walking out of the school building, not paying attention to where he was going. He was completely lost in his thoughts, and barely noticed someone tapping him.

It was only when the girl knocked her palm against his shoulder forcefully and shook his arm that he noticed she was trying to get his attention. He stopped, turning and looking down to see her. She was from the middle school, he guessed. What was she doing over here? She was distinctly worried, biting her lip and shifting her weight impatiently. He glanced over her shoulder and saw a boy about her age standing a few feet behind, out of hearing range but clearly with her. The boy was watching the pair, probably waiting to walk home with her.

She was looking at Aster nervously, waiting to see if he was actually paying attention. To humor her, although he was annoyed at being interrupted, he said, "What?"

"Are you Aster Bunnymund?"

Do you see another six foot tall Australian with abnormally large feet standing around? "Yeah. Who're you?"

"Jack's sister," she replied quietly. "Emma. Look, he's not supposed to know about me being here."

Aster groaned inwardly. This was guilt tripping if he'd ever seen it. "If this is about-"

"It's not," she replied quickly. "He didn't tell you about this."

He raised an eyebrow. "How d'ya know that fer sure?"

She shrugged, smiling slightly. "He doesn't like other people solving his problems for him, does he?"

Aster paused and then nodded. "Yeah, that's him. What's the problem?" She bit her lip again, looking around the pair. She had to stand up on her tiptoes to see over half the heads in the crowd, but was still too short for the rest. Aster simply had to casually turn his head one way and then the other before saying, "Jack already went home. He's not in the crowd."

She nodded. "Okay. Um… Jack and… and our father had a falling out. I mean, they were never on good terms, but it got… it got really bad. I can't… I tried to get Jack to back off, but he just told me it wasn't going to stop unless he did something, so… And he won't let me help! I don't even know what I'd do if he let me anyway…"

Aster shook his head slightly, trying to get all this straight in his head. How many problems did Jack _have_? "Wait, what d'ya mean 'a fallin' out'?"

She started to respond and then stopped, grimacing and shifting her weight. "It's… It's just bad, alright? Can you talk to him or something? Please?"

"I'm not sure I'm the best person fer that," Aster said carefully. "He an' I aren' on the best a' terms."

Emma pursed her lips. "You don't get it."

"Get what?"

"He lied a few nights ago and said he was staying at one of his friend's houses to work on a project. He doesn't…_didn't_…have any friends. So I talked to him about his friends the next night he was home, and he made up this completely false stuff to try to make me happy. Didn't you think it was odd that he was willing to share his notes? If he didn't have any proof of friends, then I would know he was lying, so he made some." She smiled wryly. "He didn't know I already knew he didn't have anyone. One of my friends has a sibling in his grade, and he's kept me informed."

She was _not_ making kicking Jack out of the tutoring group easy.

"The two of us haven't been close for years, and I feel like this is my fault because I pushed him into doing something and…and that's what caused the problem."

"What…" Aster ran a hand over his face. "Okay, what's this about? What d'ya want me to do?"

"I need you to talk to Jack or…or something. Can you stop by sometime to talk to him? It's… You kinda have to see the problem to believe it. It's really bad."

He sighed through his nose, gaze flickering from Emma to the boy behind her. "Yer goin' home now?"

"Yeah."

"I'll just walk the two a' ya home. I don' know exactly where ya live." He gestured for the boy to come over. Emma looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. Oh God, a middle school romance.

The boy trotted closer, looking between the two. "You guys figured it out?"

"Somethin' like that. You on the way to her house or past it?"

"My dad's going to pick me up when we get to her house," the boy replied. He held out his hand. "Jamie."

Aster shook it. "Aster. You two in seventh grade?"

They exchanged surprised looks and laughed. "No, no," Jamie said, shaking his head. "We're fifth graders."

"Ah, whatever," Aster grumbled, inciting more laughter from the pair. "C'mon, let's get goin'." He turned, and the other two followed behind. Emma asked about the tutoring program, and Aster asked about how classes were going for those two. They avoided talking about Jack altogether.

It was Jamie's idea that if they could get the tutoring program up and working at the high school effectively, they could expand into the middle school and elementary schools too. It would be a great way for the students to meet and help each other. Jamie and Aster talked about that for almost half of the walk. Emma was grinning through the entire conversation, occasionally adding in an idea of her own.

Jack's sister was really a sweet girl, Aster decided. If he were Jack and had been in the same situation, he would have definitely made up friends to please Emma too. Aster didn't bear any ill will to Jack for partially deceiving him and the rest of the group.

But Emma had said that Jack had lied about where he was a few days ago. Had he lied about the river? And if so, had he planned to be away for the night or had he explained himself later?

He decided that there would be time for those questions later as they arrived at the house. The front was in horrible shape and in bad need of repainting and fixing. Vaguely, he remembered once thinking that Jack repeatedly wore the same four or five shirts all the time. He inwardly winced for having never caught that before.

The three waited at the end of the driveway until Jamie's dad came by to pick him up. Aster and Emma waved as the van drove off, and then stood there for a few moments in silence.

"I guess Jack isn' s'posed to know I'm here?" Aster said.

"Yeah," Emma said, rubbing her head. "I mean… I'm not even sure what you can do for him, but…anything."

"I'll try," Aster promised. "I owe Jack that." He nodded at the door. "Go ahead. I'll…um. I'll figure somethin' out."

Emma smiled at her. "I see why you two don't get along. But you guys would make great friends, too."

Aster grunted, motioning for her to go on. "Get inside, it's cold."

Her smile faded as she nodded and turned to go inside. He watched her walk in to the house and waited a few minutes. Then he moved to the door, watching the windows carefully to make sure no one would see him approach. He walked quietly, trying to avoid arousing any suspicion from the house. With the plan of just walking the perimeter to see if there was anything out of the ordinary, he turned and walked over to the left side. Nothing immediately jumped out at him-

"_You asshole!_"

Aster froze, hand against the wall. The yelling was coming from the other side of it, but he could hear it as clearly as if it were right next to him. He would have bet his arm that the owner of the voice was the Frost father.

"Tch, _that's_ what you're going to call me?" Jack. "Your vocabulary's as limited as your mindset."

"Don't get cocky with me!"

"You're not happy with anything I do, so I don't think it really matters if I'm cocky or not!"

Aster turned around and set his back against the wall. He lowered himself to the ground, sitting in the snow with his arms on his knees and his chin on his arms. The loud arguing rang out in the room behind him. He heard Jack's father yell something in response; then Jack shouted something back. It went on like that for hours. Aster kept warm by moving about every few minutes, making sure to keep his blood circulation going. Emma came out an hour after she had gone in, bringing with her a bundle of blankets. He took them gratefully but without a smile. She went back inside while he wrapped himself up against the cold, settling in for a long wait.

Eventually, the yelling began to wear down as the Frost father got tired. The two males in the house simultaneously left the room, giving up on the argument in favor of their beds. The heavy footsteps of the father could be heard as he stomped up the stairs to bed.

Aster remained sitting there, thinking over what he had heard. No wonder Emma wanted him to do something about it. The problem was that he didn't know how to even say anything about it. How could you even approach someone and ask that question?

_I barely know him_.

The thought flittered in, unwarranted and unwelcomed, faster than he could keep it out.

The front door flew open, just when he was sure everyone in the house was asleep. Feet thudded on the wooden planks of the porch and jumped off, hitting the ground and taking off running. Aster looked up, knocking off blankets as he saw Jack sprinting to the forest and carrying something in his hand. He threw aside the rest of the fabric and ran after him.

Jack ran fast and hard, quickly burning out his strength and stamina. Aster followed behind, limbs hurting from the sudden change in stillness to abrupt motion. He could see Jack up ahead, running to somewhere in the far distance. The object in his hand was hard to miss, and now that he was closer, he recognized it as the stick that had saved their lives. If Aster had to guess, Jack probably didn't know where he was going. He was just running. And so Aster would follow him.

Jack's bad leg began to catch up with him, and for the last half mile he ran, his limp became more and more pronounced until he could no longer manage anything more than a fast walk. Then Jack just dragged his leg along behind him, pulling himself through the woods by using the shepherd's staff. The painful movements became obvious to the point where it hurt to watch.

Aster slowed down to keep distance between himself and Jack. In his friend's state, he doubted that Jack would even notice if Aster tripped and caused a huge ruckus. Still, Jack deserved his privacy.

Jack stumbled, only barely catching himself in time. He paused briefly before visibly stiffening his resolve. The staff moved first, and then the rest of his body dragged itself after it. He moved on, stepping forward a few more paces. His leg must have been causing him excruciating pain, but Aster wasn't sure Jack could even feel it.

A rushing sound filled his ears. Aster looked around, realizing they had reached the river. The freezing temperature hadn't been able to stop the rushing water, and it flowed stronger than ever.

A thud made him return his attention to Jack. The staff had dropped, and Jack hit his knees on the ground shortly after. A hollow sound escaped him as he bent forward, planting his exposed hands on the cold bridge and letting his head droop below his shoulders. Aster stopped, watching his friend in pity. Jack's shoulders suddenly stiffened and he reached out with his arm, grabbing onto the railing of the bridge and pulling himself over. From his position, Aster could only hear the ragged breathing and see the heaving shoulders. Anything in Jack's stomach went over the railing and into the river. The sudden exertion of energy and the injury he had just inflicted on his leg came back to cause him more trouble.

He stayed there for nearly ten minutes. Eventually, Jack reached over to grip his staff. He planted it in the snow and used it to heave himself up and to his feet. Aster stepped back quickly, ducking behind a tree. He heard Jack limping painfully past, his foot dragging in the snow. Jack was going back home. Aster would never know how hard that decision was to turn around or how crucial he had been to it.

He watched Jack struggle to his house. It was almost one in the morning by the time Jack reached the porch and collapsed on it. Aster stayed in the trees, hidden from view. Jack reached forward, running a hand over his leg to see how bad it was. He winced several times in pain. A few droplets of blood were running down from it and staining the snow red.

It would've been easy for Aster to step out into the trees and walk to the porch. He could have sat down next to Jack and he wouldn't have to say anything. All Jack would need would be a comforting presence. Aster could go grab the blankets from the side of the house to keep both of them warm. Maybe he could tell Jack something kind, could tell him he believed him now. Sharon must have had wrong information. There was no way this kid would ever get involved in drugs, not someone who would stand up to such a bastard for a sister he barely knew.

It would've been easy for Jack, at that point, to tell him what was going on. It'd allow him to get tension off his shoulders. The two of them could figure something out, maybe get his father into therapy. Emma would love her brother for trying, even if he hadn't been able to fix all the problems by himself. Everyone would turn out okay. The problem would practically fix itself.

All Aster had to do was walk over there.

Instead, he did the hardest thing he had ever done, and turned and walked away.

Aster couldn't fight Jack's battles. Jack had been alone for a long time and would be unable to hand over the steering wheel to another. He wouldn't trust Aster, and would be pissed that he had followed him this entire time without saying a word. He would be unhappy at his sister for telling what had happened because of him. He wouldn't ever trust his sister or Aster again, and Jack's trust wasn't something any of them could afford to lose right now.

Aster wanted nothing more than to help Jack. But his friend wouldn't accept the help, and he could end up making it worse. Aster couldn't do this for him.

He could, however, support him.

His promise to Emma held firm. No harm would come to either of the Frost children. Until the time Jack would accept help or Jack was able to get his father help, he would be _supported_.

Aster got home late. His mother was up, working on the computer. He told her he had been finishing up something with Sandy, which she said she had assumed was the case. She smiled and nodded as he told her that he had another project he was working on with North that would require him to stay late for a long while every night. He wasn't sure when the project would be finished.

The next day he would go to Jack's house right after school and sit against the wall of the house. He found a pile of blankets already waiting for him and a handwritten thank you note. Then he sat down to wait out the afternoon until Jack's father practically knocked himself out. While the story of falling down the stairs was still believable, it came in second place now to the real story. He sat in the snow, promising himself that he would enter at the first sound of violence.

Aster did that every day for the next month.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**October 28 **

North and Ana found Aster before school, practically attacking him as soon as his foot touched the sidewalk outside the building. They pulled him along to a corner of the school no one else was within hearing range of. He could guess what this was about but let them pull him along anyway.

Ana faced him, arms crossed. North didn't take any daunting pose, but he didn't really need to. He could probably have been his own football team if he wanted to be. Aster glanced between the two of them, waiting for one to start.

"We think you need to give Jack a little more time," Ana deadpanned. Aster stared at her for a few seconds, waiting for her to go on. She shifted her weight, and said, "I mean, he's been on his own for a really long time, and he's just now adjusting. Even if he _is_ involved with Pitch, it was probably because of something a long time ago and has nothing to do with today. Maybe he's trying to change, and that's why he was talking to Pitch, to try to get out of whatever was going on. It's a lot of speculation, but you're basing your accusations off of speculation too!" Her defense was flailing a bit. "Give him another chance, please."

Aster looked at North.

"Jack has done his best and done most work," North said. "It not fair to suddenly kick him out."

Neither of them said anything for a few awkward seconds.

"I'm not kickin' Jack out," Aster finally said. He had decided that last night, but he didn't want to rain on North's and Ana's carefully planned speeches. "I can' do that to 'im. We're the only friends he's got, whether I like 'im or not. I think we're important enough to 'im that 'e'd change if he is doin' somethin' wrong."

A wide grin split Ana's face and she practically jumped on Aster, tackling him in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Aster could see North smiling over her shoulder.

"Yep," Aster muttered into her shoulder, patting it awkwardly. "Okay, can ya get off me now?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Did ya get through Algebra II yet?" Aster asked Jack before English started.

He looked at him in confusion for a few seconds before saying, "Yeah, but…"

"Okay. Mrs. Barrett came ta talk to me yesterday, an' she said she'll let us use her labs so long as we let her know ahead of time. I think this is gettin' a lot bigger than we planned. I was talking to someone from the middle school yesterday, an' they said if the high school tutorin' program does well, they wanna start it up at the middle school too."

Jack stared at him with a blank expression. "What's today?"

"Huh?"

"Is it the twenty-seventh?"

"Nah, the twenty-eighth, why?"

"Oh, I thought I just dreamed yesterday or something…"

Aster completely ignored his confusion and just continued talking. "The word's getting' around school pretty fast about it, an' there's been a huge response. I think this is gonna go really well if it keeps up like this."

Jack nodded, listening to Aster as he talked about some of his other plans and what was going on with the preparations. He happened to glance down at Aster's hands and frowned. Interrupting the middle of Aster's ramble, Jack asked, "What happened to your hands?" Aster glanced down at them, flipping them over so he could look at the palms. Jack shook his head, turning them to show the back. The texture was grainy and rough, and they were white from flaking skin. They'd been exposed to the cold for a long time, it seemed. "Did you forget to put gloves on when you walked home last night or something?"

"Yeah," Aster said, nodding. "Just forgot my gloves."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

a/n: Aster's quick personality shifts and constantly changing perspective on what's going on with Jack is supposed to represent his boomerangs. I mean, I couldn't actually give the guy boomerangs to walk around with in school or anything, so...


	8. Chapter 8

**October 30**

Mrs. Barrett was leaning against the edge of her desk, looking around at all the faces in the room and seeming rather bemused at being involved in something like this. Mrs. Brendan was not smiling, which was normal for her, and Mr. Watson looked exasperated. He was staring at the quintet that had somehow gotten into this gigantic mess.

"In a freak accident while testing out a chemical formula… you accidentally melted a _hole_ through two tables. And scalded a good deal of the floor. Do any of you care to explain how this happened?" he said in a low voice.

They were all gathered in Mrs. Barrett's lab room, dressed in casual clothing. The group had decided to meet today to get some of the larger problems about the tutoring out of the way while they all had time to talk. It just so happened that none of them had time except on the weekend. The basketball team had practice, so the building was open anyway. Mr. Watson's concern, however, was not with tutoring at the moment. It was with the project-gone-wrong that the five had been working on Friday afternoon when Mrs. Barrett had let them use her lab.

"Frost's fault," Aster muttered, but it was quiet and under his breath so that only Jack heard it. The latter kept the smirk off his face, but elbowed the Aussie.

"Um, we were pretty sure it would be harmless, but we wanted to just make sure…" Ana said. "Well, it's a good thing we tested it first, right?"

Mr. Watson pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Not too much harm," North pointed out. "We can repair most of damage."

"It's not the damage I'm worried about," Mr. Watson gritted out. "The tables were going to be replaced this year anyway. But it's the fact that the five of you were the ones who did it! Aren't you supposed to be creating a _tutoring_ group?"

"Well, that _is_ what we're doing," Ana replied, "but we came across this formula while we were compiling stuff and thought it might be fun to try out. We thought we should take a break, just so we didn't get overwhelmed by everything we were doing. It was a good idea at first… We thought it could be a fun experiment during tutoring."

"Please tell me you've decided against it."

"We'll stick ta safer stuff," Aster quickly said.

"And where did you _find_ this?" Mr. Watson asked.

Jack's binders.

"Jus' lookin' online," Aster mumbled.

"I see." Mr. Watson's gaze came to rest on Jack, who looked suspiciously innocent. "Fortunately for you, Mr. Vanesburg has found this entire situation extremely amusing and is not going to do anything the five of you would regret. He would appreciate it, though, if this went unmentioned to anyone outside of the people in this room. Alright?"

The five teenagers all nodded.

"Now, we didn't all come to school on a Saturday for this," Mr. Watson said. "What exactly did you have in mind for the tutoring?"

"We were goin' ta have certain days ta do it, but decided it'd be better if they just came whenever they could. It's less complicated tryin' to dodge activities an' stuff. Plus, kids'll be more likely ta come if they don' have ta plan fer it," Aster began. "We thought if we could use a few rooms in a hallway or somethin', it'd be easier fer kids to go from room to room ta study."

"We can use the east hallway for that," Mrs. Brendan murmured. "It's got a science lab and regular classrooms, too."

Aster nodded appreciatively. "That'd be great. We were goin' ta see what studies kids need the most help in, so we're not wastin' efforts on classes ev'ryone understands. Between the five of us, we've got tutors fer most a' the classes kids're gonna have trouble with. We could redo lessons, go into more detail, teach it a diff'rent way… anything that'll help 'em understand it better."

"And the five of you are going to tutor an entire school?" Mrs. Barrett said, finally speaking up. She was smirking slightly.

"Only the ones who need tutoring," Jack responded.

"Which seems to be most of the school, if you take one look at the average grades," Mr. Watson muttered. "What will you do if more kids show up than you can handle?"

"Hire a few babysitters an' then get on wi' it," Aster said promptly. "We'll get some more tutors ta help."

"I can stay after and help with the science classes," Mrs. Barrett said. "I'll bet I can convince some students to stay after to get you started I've got a few in mind who could use the tutoring."

Mrs. Brendan nodded. "I can do the same thing, but I can't stay after Wednesdays or Thursdays."

"One of us is going to have to be here at all times," Mr. Watson said firmly. "It's school rules, and I think that might be state law, too."

"Wi' some a' the kids who'll be stayin'," Aster said, "I think we could use a teacher or two."

"The three of us can spread word through our classes," Mrs. Brendan said, almost to herself, "and you four can tell anyone you know…" Aster winced slightly, noticing the number miscalculation but not sure if it was accidental or a subtle point made to Jack. "How else are you going to get it known?"

"We think if we do it just by word of mouth, it'll be more personal and people will be more likely to show," Ana said. "Besides, all the kids will pass through at least one of your classrooms."

"There might be a select few who don't," Mrs. Barrett said thoughtfully, "but I'm not sure. We'll have to check on that."

"How long are they going to allow us to keep the building open for?" Jack asked. "I mean, they're going to have to keep the air conditioning or heater running as long as some of the kids are in the building, right? And lights would be a great help, too…"

"Mr. Vanesburg is waiting on you for that," Mr. Watson replied. "Would five sound about right? That'd give you an hour and a half."

"At least at the beginnin', kids aren't goin' ta want ta stay long." Aster rubbed the side of his head. "Might make it longer later, though, dependin' on how much help it turns out they need."

"I suspect they'll need as much as they can get, and they won't admit they need it. Education is not a priority around here," Mrs. Bredan said. "I wouldn't expect loads of kids on the first few days."

The conversation went off into more detail, much more detail than any of the teenagers would have thought possible for a tutoring program. The three teachers, it seemed, were adamant about getting this off the ground as quickly and effectively as possible. They were not going to let a minor problem get in the way of the rest of the program. They didn't seem to notice that they were being a bit overwhelming, and that by the end of the first hour they were the only ones talking. The talking calmed down a bit after that, becoming less like throwing plans out left and right and more organized after everyone had gotten all their ideas out of their system.

Aster and Ana came back into the conversation, tossing a few thoughts out into the fray. A couple survived, but the rest were shredded. Most of the ideas seemed to go that route, no matter who said them. Jack and Sandy stayed out of the scheming completely, and North only nodded a few times when someone needed support for something. The teachers calmed down enough to actually consider things rationally without just immediately accepting or dismissing them.

Jack and Sandy exchanged looks. This was going to be a while.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The talking went on for four hours in all before finally wrapping up and coming to a close as the rest of the steam went out of everyone and they realized it was time to call it quits for the day.

The teachers got into their cars and left the parking lot as fast as possible, probably remembering that they had promised their spouses to bring groceries home two hours ago or something. The students left much more slowly, having to go on foot and not needing to head anywhere in a rush. Excitement between the teenagers built as they continued talking about plans for the tutoring. As the last of the plans they were going over dimmed down to repeated statements, Jack realized he hadn't been paying attention at all to anything but what they were talking about.

"Wait, where are we going?" he asked, stopping the conversation.

"Oh, uh…" Aster trailed off as he realized he had no clue either. "I think Ana's."

"My mom said she was going to make lunch as soon as I got back and she's probably going to want to eat soon," Ana explained. To Jack specifically, she said, "She's used to the other three just showing up randomly, so she won't mind preparing more food than normal. You'd think she was feeding an army or something from the way she usually cooks."

"She's lucky the rest a' us eat so much," Aster muttered, "or they'd be havin' leftovers fer weeks."

"I don't know, Dad eats his fill, too," Ana remarked, laughing. "But we'd still have a lot left."

"We're getting busier and busier with this," North pointed out. "We'll probably be spending more and more time at each other's houses."

An emotion flashed across Aster's face, too fast for Jack to read. "Hey, there's an idea! What if we jus' stay at each other's houses fer the rest'a the time until Christmas Break? We'd get work done a lot faster if we did."

"I'm not sure if I could spend the _entire_ time away from my parents and Baby Tooth," Ana said, "but I can certainly stay most of the time."

"I can do that," Jack said as Sandy nodded in agreement.

"I will ask my parents, but I doubt they will disagree," North added.

"We probably shouldn't attack Jack's parents by randomly barging into his house," Ana pointed out.

Jack laughed. "You guys thought _I_ was an anti-socialite? You haven't seen anything until you've met my parents. The place is a mess anyway."

"Will they mind you being away?" Ana asked.

"I doubt they'll notice," Jack replied, waving off the idea. It occurred to him a second later that that could be taken the wrong way (or the _right_ way, since it was true), but the other four seemed to think he'd just been making a joke and moved on. They had reached Ana's house by that point and were stepping onto the porch when the door opened.

A grinning woman with bright red hair greeted them, waving them in excitedly. "Come on, food! You guys gotta eat sometime, don't'cha?" The group gave a chorus of agreements and greetings, walking in the door as they did so. "Hey, new face here! Jack Frost, I'm guessing?"

"Yep," he responded, not totally sure what to make of her already knowing him. He shot a confused look at Ana, but she just smiled back, not seeing his bewilderment.

"I thought you might be coming the next time the rest of the group showed up, so I got ready to make even more for you," she said as she closed the door behind the last of them and started walking to the kitchen. "Don't you worry about food."

"Okay," he said, smiling at her. She grinned boisterously back before moving quickly to the stove, checking to make sure nothing had lit on fire. Taking up a spatula, she nudged something around in a pan. It began hissing, and she nudged it some more until it stopped making noises.

"She's kind of a scary cooker," Ana whispered in his ear, "but the food always turns out good. It just doesn't look pretty in the making." He nodded. She grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction the rest were going. "Come on," she said at a normal speaking level. "Let's get some of our work done."

"Food'll be done in half an hour!" her mom called after them.

"Thanks!"

Ana dragged him down a hallway and to a brightly colored room. It was filled with artistic projects and designs on the wall for what looked like engineering. The others had already seated themselves on the floor with pillows as cushions or on the bed. Ana dropped into a chair by her desk and watched Jack as he looked around the room in surprise. "Not what you were expecting, huh?"

"Not… really, no," he replied. "Considering I remember you almost failed art in third grade, which I didn't even think was possible."

She laughed. "Wow, I can't believe you remember that. No, none of this is mine. Aster's the artistic one in the group. On occasion, Sandy can match his drawing skills, but our little friend here doesn't like to show off." Sandy rolled his eyes in response. "The engineering stuff is all North's."

"We usually all come here 'cause it's the closest between all our houses," Aster explained. "So somehow, junk from all of us just kinda coalesced in here."

"It's not all junk," Ana disagreed.

"My stuff is!"

"No it's not!"

A strange object was hanging from the ceiling in one corner of the room. It had a ball of green and yellow beads in the center, connected by fishing wire to three copper wires of varying lengths around it. The first wire had two smaller beads tied into it, the second wire had eight, and the third wire had four. It was a mock-up of Mendeleev's idea of the atomic structure of silicon. Jack remembered making his for vanadium. It hadn't been pretty. Aster's – for it was undoubtedly his, considering the label on the side that had been left there– on the other hand, looked like a work of Van Gogh's.

"Anyway," Ana said, bringing Jack back to reality. She shot a pointed look at Aster. He'd lost the mini argument, it seemed. "This is where we usually all end up. Along with a lot of our stuff."

"I think we all have clothes here, actually," North said, as if this had just now occurred to him.

"Now that ya mention it, I think we've all got toothbrushes and stuff here too," Aster said thoughtfully.

"Do you all sleep in certain places, or…?"

"Nah, we jus' fall asleep on the floor in the middle of whatever we were doin'."

Ana jumped slightly in surprise and pulled her legs up closer to her. "Woah!" The others turned quickly, looking at her as she relaxed and let out a laugh. "Sorry, she just startled me." Ana reached down and picked up a grey cat from amidst a pile of clothes. "Jack, this is Baby Tooth." She handed her to him, doing nothing less than placing her in his arms. If he hadn't taken her, she would've fallen straight to the floor.

Baby Tooth let out a mrow, sniffing his arms and kneading them with her paws. She settled down a few seconds later, content to just lay there. Jack looked at the others in blank confusion.

"What, never held a cat before?" Aster asked.

"No…"

"Well, yer, uh, doin' a great job," Aster replied, not completely sure what the usual response was to that. "Y'know, not droppin' her or anything'. Might be easier if ya sit down."

Jack nodded hesitantly and sat down a few feet away from the door, careful not to jostle the cat. She murmured in his arms, shifting to adjust to the new position. He started rubbing her fur gently as the group moved on and began talking about how much progress they had made and on congratulating each other. For his part, he remained mostly silent and tried not to incite any praise towards himself.

Ana's mother yelled to them from the kitchen that food was ready. Baby Tooth apparently knew what the word 'food' meant, because she leaped off of Jack's lap and ran down the hallway. The teenagers were quick to follow, getting seated around the table and starting to dish out foods for each other. Ana's parents came in occasionally to nab some food or ask a question. Laughter started up pretty quickly, and Jack found himself dragged into the jokes and humor. Baby Tooth reappeared, climbing onto his lap and settling down. He saw her nip a few bites from his plate, but honestly...

He didn't mind at all.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was eight o'clock at night before anyone realized they hadn't told their parents were they were. With a few chagrined looks, they traded phones and left for different rooms so they could call and confirm that they hadn't been abducted by anyone other than Ana's family. Jack called the main line, but as expected, no one picked up. He left a five second message stating he was at a friend's house and then hung up. North frowned briefly at the speed with which he returned, but didn't say anything. Jack was thankful for that.

He was thankful for a lot of things that night, actually. For one thing, he didn't hear a single raised voice (except when North and Aster started arguing over who was sleeping next to the vent, but that was resolved with much laughing and throwing pillows around). For another, there was no mention of a single problem in the world but the cat hair all over the room. The only thing that was in high demand was blankets, and that was solved by sharing a few long ones. Ana's parents were nice enough to sacrifice theirs and take two one-person blankets for themselves.

Here, he could believe his father had left alcohol behind. He could think that he and Emma would stay close until the end of their days. Not a single thought of a certain note entered his mind. The river was miles away, carrying his problems to a reservoir. His leg would heal up eventually, never to cause him problems again.

This was a safe place.

He hadn't known many of those.

It was only when everyone else had fallen asleep, mostly on accident, that Jack could even allow his thought process to go to Pitch. The senior had, as expected, looped him into running another batch to someone else shortly after he had completed the first drop. He was supposed to do another one on Tuesday. The few people he met who worked for Pitch now were completely new faces. He had never seen any of them before, but they had heard of him. It seemed like word had gotten around about his skill at working for Pitch. They'd given him nicknames and welcomed him into their group happily, excited to meet such a legend. More than half had made a point to come up and talk to him, encouraging him to help out a bit more and become more acquainted with the new group. None of them had been unfriendly in the slightest, and all were ready to help him with the slightest thing.

He'd give Pitch and his group up in a heartbeat if it meant he could spend just one more night here under Ana's roof with her and her friends. He'd rather he never saw Pitch again.

A sudden thump jerked him out of his reverie. Aster had shifted in his sleep and flung an arm over North. The Russian was quick to knock the arm off and smack Aster back. Aster threw his pillow at him, only to get it shoved back in his face a second later. He tossed it away, sending it in Jack's direction. Jack sat up, throwing both Aster's and his own pillow at the other two.

And that was how the second pillow fight started.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: Hey, I'm really sorry, but the updates might be fewer and farther in between than before. Someone in my close family was hospitalized (NOT my twin, if any of you follow her stories), and her husband broke his leg the day before. It's one of those situations where it's funny at first and then sucks later. Anyway, what wasn't supposed to be that bad has quickly declined into a pit of crap we call a mess, and I somehow became the only one who is able to get these two people OFF THEIR FEET AND BACK INTO A CHAIR WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE.

So. Between that and my sudden need to study a math textbook one level above my current and a science textbook three or four levels above my current, I will be very busy.

But reviews would certainly help me post faster. Is this bribery? Oh, most definitely.


	9. Chapter 9

**October 31**

Jack woke up in the morning when a pillow was thrown in his face again. He threw it back without opening his eyes, but whoever was the first offender didn't have the time to throw it back and start a pillow fight all over again. "C'mon, get up! Breakfast!"

"I'm tired…"

"That's because you and North and Aster spent all night smacking each other with pillows!" Ana replied, taking the pillow Jack had thrown back at her and whacking Aster on the side of the head with it. "Get up!" Sandy was already awake, but he was down the hall in the kitchen having a conversation with Ana's mother. "The eggs will get cold!"

"Ana," Aster groaned, "we just got to sleep a few hours ago… finally…"

"That's your own fault! North!"

"I think he turned into a rock overnight…"

"North! _Get up!"_

"Yeah, definitely dead," Jack agreed, closing his eyes again. "Let me know when Ragnarok finally comes around."

Ana puffed out an irritable breath.

Baby Tooth purred next to Jack, making his entire side vibrate. She crawled around a bit under the blankets between him and North, then climbed up onto his stomach and came out right underneath his chin. He looked down at her for a few seconds before she meowed and jumped off his chest. With the warmth gone, he rolled over and got out from under the blankets.

"So you'll listen to _her_ but not _me_?"

"Baby Tooth has the last say," North muttered, having been awake the entire time. He threw the rest of the blankets away from him and Aster. "Alright, breakfast."

"Hey, I'm sleepin' here!" Aster grabbed the blankets and tried to hide under them.

"Just leave him," Jack groaned. "He'll get up when he gets up."

"Exactly!" Aster said, muffled from the blankets. A few seconds later, he tossed them off and sat up. "Now I'm not even tired because of all this arguin'! Dang it, Frostbite!"

Jack frowned down at him. "Frostbite? Where did _that _come from?"

"Your new nickname."

"Yeah, well, I'm calling you Bunny then, 'cause you're always hopping around."

"Oh no, you do _not_ get to call me that!"

"Then you can't call me Frostbite!"

Tooth and North exchanged looks and then left the room. It meant more food for them if the other two didn't come, although there would most likely be enough for all of the Huns that Attila had commanded if Ana's mother had cooked her normal amount.

"Are you all going out for Halloween?" she asked as soon as Ana and North entered the room. "It could be fun."

"None of us are old enough," Ana sighed. Then she smirked and added, "And I don't think Aster would let us take him again after what happened last time."

"Last time?" Jack asked as he entered the room with a groggy Aster behind him. He sat down backwards on a chair. "This sounds like something I'm going to want to hear."

"No, you really don't," Aster snapped. "Leave it alone."

Jack grinned. "Now, now, eat your breakfast."

"Shut up!"

"They made him wear a bunny outfit," Ana's mom whispered loudly, her smirk matching Jack's.

"Mrs. Fae!" Aster groaned.

Jack burst out laughing. "A _bunny_! Sounds like I'm not the only one who thinks that nickname fits!"

"We weren't very original that year," Ana sighed. "I went as a fairy, we threw some golden robes on Sandy to make him the Sandman, and North was Santa Claus. It was fun, though. We brought Baby Tooth along and pretended she was one of my helpers, and North brought along Phil and pretended he was one of his elves."

"Phil?"

"Yeah, North's got a few ferrets that run around the house. They don't bite, and they're _really_ stupid, but they're adorable and usually don't make too much of a mess," Ana explained. "You'll have to see them sometime."

"So if you're not going out, are you going to help hand out candy for Halloween?" Ana's mother asked. "Jack, do you need to be home by then?"

"Nah, it's fine," Jack said, smiling. "I don't need to walk my sister around the neighborhood or anything. She's staying with a friend over the weekend."

"You have a sister?" Ana asked, excited. "We have to meet her sometime!"

"Okay," he laughed. "She wants to meet you guys, too."

"We'll stop by at some point," Ana said, leaving no point for debate. "Does she look like you?"

"I haven't ever really thought about it before, but people tell us we look alike," Jack replied, amused.

"The question you _should_ be askin' is whether she acts the same way or not," Aster muttered, finishing off the last of his food. Ana's mother silently gestured for him to take more, but he hurriedly shook his head, gesturing to his stomach. She was undeterred, but he managed to hold her off.

"Pff, she's much better behaved," Jack replied. "Don't worry about that."

"Yeah, but she's your sister. Always cause for concern."

"Despite my attempts, she remains a good citizen and has never once been sent down to detention."

Ana frowned. "Wait, you have?"

Jack laughed, hard. "Why do you think the teachers hate me so much? I hold the record!"

"They keep track?" North asked.

"No, but I think someone started wondering how many times I'd gone down for detention and checked the books. Turns out, I beat out the other guy by ten. And that was the last time they checked. I wonder what it is now…"

"Wow, Jack, you're a wonderful example," Aster said, sarcastic.

"I know, right?"

"Well, you're a better example than Ana is," Aster replied, smirking. Ana fumbled for a second for words, leaving Jack to look between the two in confusion. Sandy and North started grinning, seeing where this was going. Aster's smirk widened. "See, at least ya never got into a fight."

"Wait, _what_?" Jack looked at Ana, who had flushed bright red by this time.

"It was an accident!"

"How do you _accidentally_ get into a fight?"

"It was with Pitch an' a few of his friends," Aster said, shrugging. "North, Sandy, an' I all stepped in. Four of us versus about six of them. We kicked the crap outta them. It was awesome."

"I didn't realize you guys were so violent."

"Oh, let me tell ya, the worst of us was Sandy. Small, but mighty." North and Ana nodded in agreement. Sandy shrugged. "It was kinda scary, but at least he's on our side."

"Okay, everyone, before we scare Jack off," Ana said, bringing the conversation around to another topic. "Mom and Dad have to leave to go party with some friends or something, so we need to move. Off to Sandy's, right?"

Sandy nodded. He scribbled down _Parents still not back_ on his notepad.

"Good, cannot bother them then," North said. "Shall we change clothes and meet back at Sandy's in half an hour?"

"Yeah, let's do that now," Aster agreed. He stood up, taking his plates over to the sink. "Jack, ya know the way?" Aster asked.

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys there."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack was almost home when the last of the fuzzy feelings wore off and the regular thought process sunk back in. Just seeing his house drove away the last of the leftover happiness. If that hadn't been bad enough, the shadow leaning against his mailbox surely was. Pitch smirked at him as he drew closer.

"Well, well, look who finally decided to come home. Your dad was whining about you for hours last night. I assume, anyway, since I gave up after it became clear you weren't coming back. I didn't know you were having so many problems with him. I could help, you know."

"Somehow, I doubt I'd like help from you," Jack snapped. "Look, what do you want? I've got places to be."

"Out with 'friends', I'm guessing?"

Jack simply glared at him.

"So-called friends, anyway. They only show up when they need you."

"You here about Tuesday's delivery?"

Pitch shook his head, standing up straight as he did so. "Oh, no, Tuesday's drop has been moved to today. Foolish of me, but I had forgotten that _Halloween_ was coming up. The mother lode for us!"

"Can I take a holiday?"

"Funny. But not funny enough for me to agree. Sorry, we need you on this. The police know we work hardest on this day, too, and they're keeping a close eye out."

Jack glared at him. "I'm supposed to be somewhere in half an hour, and I doubt I'm going to have any free time for _this_ afterwards. You're going to have to deal without me today."

"If you don't have much time, you better make it fast, then," Pitch said, pulling out a package from the mailbox. He held it out to Jack. "Just one. It's not far."

Jack didn't take it. "I really need to get going."

"So do I. It'll only take a few minutes."

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

"Because the security will be high around that area. It's around the school," Pitch said, sighing in exasperation. "Why else? Come on, it won't take long. I'm compromising as is! I'm not asking for you to do it later."

"That's because you don't have a choice."

"And you don't really have much of one either. Emma's coming home soon, you know."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Officer Cook was having a busy afternoon, all because of this one kid. The worst part was that she'd had to let him slip away.

They had gotten a call from someone saying they were pretty sure their neighbor had been taking illegal drugs for some time now, and they had just seen someone deliver some more. Since they were waiting for the majority of the problems to start up later in the afternoon, they had a sniffer dog and officer to spare to go check it out. They radioed back that there were confirmed drugs in the area and that the owner of the house had already been arrested. A few more officers were sent out to patrol the area and look for whoever had delivered it.

At around the same time, another report came in, and the dog and officer had to leave. If they had been able to stay, it would have made Cook's job a lot easier, but things were rarely that convenient. She had run across a teenager with a limp a few blocks away and had driven up beside him, asking him a few general questions. It didn't appear that he knew anything, so she drove on after taking his name. Barely five minutes later, a witness reported seeing a boy with a limp who was about the same height as the Frost kid she had just spoken to, only he had been at the house where the delivery had been made. Cook drove around a bit to try to find the kid again, but he was already gone. She radioed in to ask where the boy's home was, and she pulled up a few minutes later in the driveway after picking up a few other officers.

Cook stepped out and walked up the door, about to knock. It opened before she could. Both of them froze, and Cook lowered her hand. "Leaving for somewhere?" she asked politely.

"Yes," he said carefully. "Can I help you?" He looked rather nervous, but she supposed that if a police officer had hunted her down specifically to talk to her when she was his age, she would've been nervous too.

"You can, actually. We're looking for someone involved with a drug ring around here. He was last seen in the area I spoke with you at. I was wondering if you saw anyone suspicious out there around that time." Truthfully, she could've arrested him now and questioned him later, but she didn't want that on the kid's record for the next few years if he wasn't guilty, and there was the chance that he would just confess if prodded lightly if he was.

"What time?"

"Around the time that I first spoke with you."

"To be honest, the only thing I thought was odd was the amount of officers in the area, but I guess that makes sense now. I wasn't really looking for anyone." The teenager had a good poker face, certainly. "Did anyone give a rough description?" His poker face wasn't good enough for her, though, and the anxiety was shining through more and more. He tried, at least. She gave him credit for that. The only problem was that it seemed like he was already considering prison, and it's hard to keep up a mask of innocence while you're already thinking about the results of your guilt.

"Yes, actually," she replied promptly. She shifted slightly, allowing Jack to see past her. He glanced over her shoulder, seeing the two police cars in the driveway. "Someone about your height with a limp."

It looked like his stomach dropped right out. "Oh."

He was definitely already considering prison. From his expression, though, he wasn't thinking about running. Granted, there wasn't much room for him to try. "Seen anyone like that?" she asked.

"No. I told you, I wasn't looking at anyone else." He managed to keep the defensive tone out of his voice, but only just. "I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"Mind telling me what happened to your leg?" she asked, only trying to keep up the conversation at this point. If he didn't spill and the sniffer dog had a break soon, his handler might be able to drive him over soon to give Jack a once-over.

"I fell off the bridge. Y'know, the one that runs over the James Creek. I scraped up some of the muscle on a boulder in the river."

"That sounds bad. How long ago?"

"About two weeks." He shifted, trying not to appear too nervous. It didn't really come across as unconcerned.

"Oh, sorry, were you walking out the door to go somewhere?" she asked, still polite. Then frowned slightly, noticing his slight difference. "And did you change your clothes?"

"Hm? Oh, I spent the night at a friend's last night. We all went home to change so we didn't smell too badly, and we were going to meet back up again at another friend's to give the other one's parents a break." That didn't sound too much like a lie.

"Sounds like you need to get to that, then," Cook said, but made no motion to move out of his way. "What time did you get back?"

"About…" He was fumbling for an answer, and she let him. Whatever he said (and it seemed like he was aware of this), she could always try to check with anyone nearby to see if their stories matched up. Whatever he said would also have to correlate with the time he spoke with her earlier. "I don't remember, actually. We were all up pretty late, and I accidentally fell asleep for a while. I'd guess I got home about half an hour ago, though." Granted, that _did_ fit with their conversation. But would it fit with what the neighbors saw? Did he return home twice?

She nodded. "Up late studying or partying?"

"Neither, really." The silence became a bit awkward, but that was only on his part. She was completely at ease. He shifted his weight again. "Do you mind? They're probably waiting for me."

He wasn't going to give up easily. She reached behind her back, to pull out her handcuffs, a bit sad that he hadn't decided to just confess. It would've made the court case a lot easier. From his expression, though, she shouldn't have bothered. If his facial muscles were anything to go by, his heart stopped as soon as she put her hand behind her back. He gritted his teeth, various emotions flying across his face.

"Yeah, we _were_ wonderin' what had happened ta ya," a voice said, somewhere off to her right. Cook turned, noticing someone else stepping up onto the porch. He looked to be about Jack's age, with light brown hair and a distinct tan. From the accent and build, she guessed he was Australian. "Didn't realize you'd become a suspect or somethin'," the teenager joked dryly. "What's goin' on?"

"Someone delivered a package of illegal drugs in an area he was in. He matched the description of the delivery boy," Cook said, feeling an odd sensation of needing to explain herself. It wasn't like this was her _job_ or anything…

The new teenager frowned. "Weird. Bad timin', I think. Trust me, Jack was too tired to do anythin' like that."

"It was about half an hour ago." This could get bad for her really fast.

"I came home and fell asleep. I kinda got lost trying to get home from Ana's…" Jack said awkwardly.

The friend nodded, completely sympathizing. "Yeah, she's in a weird location. North fell asleep, too. He still hasn't shown up, so Ana went to go get 'im. I figured ya'd either crashed or yer leg had given out an' ya were lyin' in a ditch somewhere."

"Thanks for that image."

"Anytime." The teenager looked at Cook. "So, can he go? We've got a lot to get done before January an' we don' have much time."

Cook frowned. "I'm sorry, but he _is_ our best suspect." This was getting even worse. If this kid had a back-up story that ran just close enough, his friends could mistake the time they left for a different time, easily. It was a common mistake. They were sure there was no way their friend could ever have done such a thing, and elaborated slightly to cover for him just to make sure he wasn't accidentally arrested. She hadn't expected for him to have actually come from a friend's house.

Aster sighed impatiently. "Look, when was he s'pposedly deliverin' drugs to the crack head or whatever?"

"About forty-five minutes ago."

"Okay, well, he hadn' left our friend's house 'til about ten, so that's not possible, 'specially with his leg. I don' think he's goin' to be doin' much on it, includin' takin' detours to drop off illegal junk."

A flat-out lie. Crap. He'd decided to protect his friend.

"You're absolutely sure he wasn't anywhere in the area?" she asked. She'd already lost, though. Frost had probably changed to wash the clothes he'd had on earlier and had scrubbed off most of the residue. Faint traces would remain, but he could say he'd been in the area, so maybe some of it had blown on him. The time table had been their biggest piece of evidence, but if his friend testified for him, things could get dicey. This would be the first offense for the kid, and he probably wouldn't get too much time for it even if he were convicted. Chances were that the jury would just write it off as a one-time mistake and let him go.

"Positive. With the rest of us," the friend replied, nodding firmly. He didn't even try to avoid meeting her eyes, and that told her all she needed to know. He was lying. And he didn't care that she could arrest him for obstruction. "Is that all?"

She glanced at Jack, whose heart didn't seem to have started back up yet and whose face hadn't turned back from white to its normal shade yet. He met her gaze, too, but it didn't have nearly the amount of confidence that his friend had. He wasn't going to be doing anything like this again. She'd scared him out of it. "Yeah," Cook said, "that's all."

She walked off the porch and back to her car.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The two of them walked through the woods in silence. Aster was a few yards ahead, striding quickly and clearly not in the mood to talk. Jack walked behind, much slower. He'd had to stop and grab the staff from his room to support his leg, but it wasn't helping him go any faster. As soon as the police cars had left, Aster's nonchalant attitude had dropped into one of cold anger and he had marched off into the woods, barely waiting long enough for Jack to grab the staff.

He could hear Jack stumbling a bit behind him, but he didn't care much. He was too busy fuming. After all of this, he'd thought that it had just been a lie. He had written off Sharon's words, choosing to believe that Jack was a better person than that. That maybe, his new relationships would help him see he didn't have to worry about the same problems he had before, and that he had friends who would face it with him. Didn't he get it? Friends looked out for one another. Aster had half a mind to just turn around and yell at him, about what a horrible friend he was and how he could just go away and not come back.

Jack stumbled behind him, nearly falling flat on his face. Aster heard him plant the wood in his hand on the ground, steadying himself as he tried to get his breath back. He didn't walk after Aster, even when the Aussie picked up his pace. He thought about just leaving him there, thinking that maybe that would say everything that Aster wanted to say but couldn't. But he could hear Jack's labored breathing and feel the snow underneath his boots. If he left Jack, there wasn't a guarantee that he'd ever see his new friend again.

So he slowed his pace until he had come to a complete halt. He still didn't turn around, waiting for Jack to start walking again. Something told him Jack wasn't going to move until they'd sorted this out, though, and that almost made Aster leave. He stayed, but he wasn't sure why. There wasn't a part of him that wanted to hear the apologies and the lies.

He stayed, waiting for the next ten straight minutes while Jack got his breath back and simply stood there. Was he simply waiting for Aster to start walking again? No, he would've started without him if that were the case.

"It won't happen again."

To put it simply, Aster exploded at him.

Whipping around, he stalked back to his friend, yelling at him the whole way. "_That's_ all yer goin' to say? What if they'd had concrete evidence? I could be arrested too, y'know! Did ya stop ta think about that?!"

Jack kept quiet, not pointing out the obvious fact that he hadn't asked Aster to do it. A small voice in Aster's head pointed out that sign of guilt, but the rest of him ignored it.

"Greedy, selfish, arrogant bastard! Did ya ever _think_? I ignored the people sayin' you were workin' with Pitch 'cause I thought ya'd _changed_! I thought ya'd cut it off an' stop workin' with 'im! I thought… I don't know what I thought anymore! I thought maybe if ya had a _friend_, ya might snap outta it! But you did _this _ ta me! How could ya?" He reached Jack and shoved him back a step. "Did ya think about the rest of us? What if they thought ya got that crap from Ana's? They'd have arrested everyone under the house to make sure we weren't involved!"

Jack didn't look at him and shook his head.

"I can't _believe_ ya did this! I gave ya a warnin' an' then didn' mention it again! Ya acted different, so I thought it'd sunk into yer head! Turns out, ya just used us the entire time as a cover story! I don't care what happens ta ya, I really don't. But don' come back. I just didn't want ta see Ana cry when I had ta tell her what happened. I wouldn't have stood up for ya if ya hadn' pulled her inta this, too. Go back home an' think about what ya did."

"I know what I did," Jack said, in as blank a voice as if he were talking about watermelons, "and I have to keep doing it." He looked up, meeting Aster's eyes grimly. "It's not about me. He's threatening to plant something on Emma. I'm not around her all the time. I can't stop him if he does."

The anger quickly faded out of Aster, and he stared at Jack. The younger one turned away, walked a few paces back, and leaned against a tree to take the weight off his leg. "When I was in the sixth grade, as you know, Emma almost fell into the ice in the pond that the James Creek runs out of. I got her out of the way, but fell in myself. We were both fine, in the end and after the hospital trip, but she ignored me for years after that until recently. Turns out she was just awkward at first and then had nothing to talk about later… Anyway, I had no friends to talk to and I had no family to speak with. I don't really remember how, but Pitch found me.

"He started using me to run drugs around. I was the starting point of his career, and he relied on me to do a lot of the runs at first. I did it the best because no one ever suspected the small, innocent little kid. He picked up more kids as time went on, and we all became a small family. It was going well…up until the middle of my seventh grade year. Nothing happened on Pitch's end; things were better than ever. A teacher noticed something was wrong with me, finally, and pulled me out of it. He was the one who got me started on working ahead in academics and putting together the binders. I stopped working for Pitch and focused on that instead. It let me forget about him for a while. A year later, it was a thing of the past. Pitch kept harassing me, trying to get me to sign back on, but… I was done.

"Pitch tried again recently. It wasn't anything major, and I thought he'd just let it go. He knew I wanted a relationship with Emma, though, and he used that against me. He threatened to frame her, and I picked back up where I left off. This is only the fourth time I've worked with him. I tried to stay out of as much of it as I could, but… He's manipulative. I don't want to be doing this, Aster."

Aster remained silent, all the previous anger he'd had pent up completely gone by now. "Did ya ever talk ta anyone about it?"

"No. Who would I speak to, anyway? I wasn't close to family or friends, and if I talked to a counselor, they'd be required to turn us all in. I'd have to serve time."

"Maybe the teacher?"

"Nah. I figured out he was a sexual predator by the end of the year, so that kinda ended our relationship."

Aster gaped at him, and Jack's eyes widened.

"Wait, wait, not like that! No, no, no, nothing happened! Don't look at me like that! It's all fine! Didn't happen! He never… No! Definitely not! Sorry, wrong way to phrase that! …I'm serious, don't give me that look!"

"Um, Jack…"

"Nothing. Happened!"

"Are ya sure…?"

" 'Course I'm sure!" His entire face was flushed with embarrassment. "Seriously!"

"Okay…" Aster trailed off awkwardly, figuring it was safe to assume Jack was telling the truth. The younger teenager had been half ready to start laughing, and that wasn't a response he would've had if something had been going on. "So, you've been holding onto this for…for three years?"

Jack nodded, the flush coming out of his cheeks. "Yeah. It was hard, but…it's fine. Besides, I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

That struck a nerve In him, and for several seconds, Aster found himself unable to say anything. He'd just been about to leave him in the middle of the forest. This kid, with so much history. It was no wonder that sometimes the only thing that kept him standing was that staff nowadays.

"Yeah. I s'pose you are. C'mon, let's get to Sandy's."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: I'm not completely happy with this chapter because it went by _really_ fast, but there was no way I could write Jack running the drop for Pitch and frankly, I hated the whole drug thing anyway. So I finished it off as fast as possible. The only reason I included it in was because Jack needed a relationship with Pitch that he hated and that would drive him to work on the binders. Call me unimaginative, but this was all I could think up. I really liked the part where Jack thinks he's about to be arrested, though.

Cook is going to be back. She's important.

No, Jack is not going to be sexually harassed. I'm going to need, like, serious bribery from half the readers if I ever put it in. The only reason I included it was because I wanted something that was kinda funny to finish it off, and because everyone in this verse seems to think Pitch is a sexual predator. So I did a stupid pun off that.

Does anyone else think Ana Fae is a really pretty name?


	10. Chapter 10

**October 31**

Cook sighed as she returned to her car, shaking her head at the officer in the passenger's seat. "None of the neighbors saw him come home either time. They said they avoid watching the Frost house on general principles."

"Why?"

"Apparently the father's got temper problems. Poor kids…" She glanced over at her partner. "Look, I'm not too concerned about this, are you? I mean, you should've seen the kid's face. He was so stunned when his friend stepped in for him. I'll bet that's the first time anyone's ever done something like that for him. He looked pretty scared when he thought I was about to arrest him. I don't think he'll do anything like this again."

Her partner sighed, shifting in his seat. "I think we're going to have bigger fish to fry tonight, frankly. If he does anything again, we'll catch him and be sure to follow it up. We don't have enough for him this time." He narrowed his eyes mischievously. "Getting soft on the kids, hmm?"

She glared at him. "No."

"Oh, but this one's different, isn't he?"

She huffed, putting the car into reverse and backing out of the driveway. "No."

"Aww, he is, isn't he?"

"Shut up."

"Worried?"

The sudden sincerity made her pause and look over at him. "Something like that. I'm going to check up on him later."

"That'll give him a heart attack."

"I still want to make sure he's okay."

"Do what you want, Cook," he sighed. "Just remember that we can't save everyone."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Aster," Jack said cautiously as they approached Sandy's house. They were within sight of it, and walking side by side. "Can I ask a favor?"

" 'Course. What's it for?"

"Take the binders."

"What?"

"The binders. Get them out of my house, alright? I don't want them. I never did. They remind me too much of Pitch and that mess. Just take them, alright?"

Aster glanced at him, frowning slightly. "Yeah, sure. I can do that. When?"

"I don't know. As soon as you can." They walked in silence for a few more seconds, before Jack frowned and said, "What's that smell?"

Aster frowned, sniffing the air. He stopped suddenly. "Uh oh."

Jack paused, leaning against his staff. "What?"

Aster groaned. "You're about to meet our chaperone for the New York trip."

"We have to have a chaperone?"

"Yes. Someone has to be over eighteen, an' none of us are so we had to invite an adult along. This adult just so happened to be the most immature sibling one could ever have. Present company excluded."

"Thanks. Who is it?"

"Sandy's sister."

"Sandy has a sister?!"

"He doesn't talk about her much."

"I…see."

"Come on, let's get it over with." He stalked over to the house. Jack matched his pace, barely using the staff much anymore. Aster didn't comment. Maybe Jack was just ignoring the pain. By the time they arrived in the yard, the scent of cake was too strong to ignore. Sandy's sister was an avid cook for sweets. They had gone from the house of the army cook to the house of the sugar plum fairies. Aster pushed open the back door, revealing the mess inside the kitchen.

A tall, lanky girl with way too little clothes on for any degree of appropriateness was standing at the stove. Flour and salt had fallen at some point over the counter and were sprayed over parts of it and the floor. She had long honey-brown hair that fell to her waist, pulled back in a low ponytail. She turned when she heard the door open and waved at them. "Aster!" She dropped her spatula and hugged the Australian, who immediately flushed a bright red and didn't return the hug. There was no way to return the gesture and not touch an outrageous amount of skin. Jack simply stared, not sure how this woman could possibly be related to Sandy. "Oh my God, it's been way too long! You're looking even hotter than when I saw you last!"

"Um, thanks…?"

She let go, holding him at arm's length. "Swimming's definitely treating you well," she said, nodding. "Dating yet?"

"No time. Look, we've kinda got stuff to get done…"

"Oh, work's boring, don't worry about it." She glanced past him at Jack. "You two would be a cute couple."

"No," they deadpanned simultaneously.

"Hey, you've got the mutual thought process down and everything! You're doing great!"

"We are _not_ dating," Jack said firmly. "Who are you?"

"Isabel, Sandy's sister! Who're you?"

"Jack."

"Well, you're not as adorable as Aster, but you're still pretty cute." She glanced at the stove. "Hold on, I think the cake's going to start burning in a minute." She moved away, opening the stove and peering inside. Aster ran out of the room as quietly as possible with Jack at his heels. By the time Isabel turned back around, they were gone.

They only slowed when they were up the stairs, almost to Sandy's room. "Does she…?" Jack started, confused.

"Sexually harass everyone? Yeah." He snorted at Jack's expression. "She's a handful. We've already agreed that we're going to ditch her in New York an' wander around without her. She's just there for liability or whatever."

"Oh, good," Jack said, looking nervously over his shoulder at the kitchen to make sure she wasn't following. "Does she do that to everyone?"

"Everyone."

"_Everyone?_"

"It's a little disturbing. I think she went easy on you today, too."

Jack groaned.

"Trust me, it gets much worse." They had reached the top of the stairs, and Aster lead them down the hallway, past the bathroom he had used a few weeks earlier to wash off all the grime. Jack noticed him pointedly not looking at it as they walked by. Aster pushed open a door at the end of the hallway, walking in to Sandy's room. The room was only lightly decorated, as if the owner didn't stay there often. If Ana's earlier statement about everyone going to her house was anything to judge by, then he probably didn't.

North, true to Aster's statement with the police, looked like he had fallen asleep and had been dragged here. Sandy, as always, looked completely awake, while Ana was waiting impatiently for them. "Finally! What took you guys so long?"

"Jack's neighbor's dog got out," Aster muttered irritably. Jack nodded. "We got roped into helping catch it."

Ana sighed. "Okay, let's see… What else do we have to do?"

"Got through all the binders. Those're really goin' ta help the kids who don' understand the way the teachers are teachin' now," Aster said. "We've got help from the heads of the departments at school. Mr. Vanesburg is happy with us. We have the times worked out. A bunch of students are already goin' to be coming, an' word of mouth is gettin' it around pretty fast. I'm not sure if that's because a lot of kids want ta come or because they're just not sure what we're doin'. I think if we needed ta, we could prob'bly start it tomorrow."

"So we have a month to do…what?"

"Procrastinate for anything else we should probably get done," Jack suggested.

"Well, we can' procrastinate if there isn' anythin' to do…" Aster trailed off. "We got done a lot faster than I thought we could."

"So we basically just need to work on public relations and the rest of this will all fall into place," Jack said.

"Yeah."

A few seconds of awkward silence passed. "Should we figure out where to go in New York?" North asked. "There's the basic guideline we all follow when we go, but we can find some other places. And Isabel is here to say where she wants to go."

"Maybe we could just tell her the places we want to go are the places we're s'pposed to go an' hope she doesn' notice?" Aster muttered, glancing at the door like she was about to walk through on their dastardly plan in a moment of glory and shove the cake she had just made in their faces. "I mean, it's not like she's gonna check the schedule or anythin'."

"But what if she talks to one of the other chaperones?" Ana asked.

"I'd kinda prefer she doesn' talk to _anyone_ from our school…"

"But we have to be prepared," Ana said.

"Um, and isn't there a…dress code we have to follow?" Jack pointed out hesitantly.

"She's going to have to abide by that…or maybe not. She's not a student," North said. "Should we talk to her now or later?"

"I say we put it off as long as-"

"_Come get the cake if you want any!"_

They all winced at the loud volume of her yelling and exchanged looks. Aster finished, "…as possible."

"Let's go sort this out now," Jack sighed.

Aster nodded and stood up. Jack started to do the same, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Ana frowned, peering down at his head. "Woah, hold on a second."

Jack tried to look up at her, but she pushed his head back down so it was level. "What? Lice or something?"

"No… Sandy, come here. I'm not going crazy or something, right?" Sandy walked over, looking at Jack's head to see what she was talking about. He nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'm not insane. Jack, do you dye your hair? No, if you did it'd probably be the other way around… But maybe that's _why_ you dye your hair…"

"Ana, I don't dye my hair. What is it?"

"Your hair is turning white."

"_What_?"

Aster walked over, nudging Sandy and Ana aside gently. "Lemme see." He looked down at Jack's head, pushing aside hair to get a better glance at the roots. "Woah. Mate, she's right. White as snow. All of the roots. You know what this means?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Old age."

Jack batted their hands away. "I am _not_ getting old," he scoffed, and stomped off to the bathroom. The others followed, so he left the door open while he tilted his head down and looked at the top of it in the mirror. Ana was right. All of the roots were turning pure white. "Holy crap… It _is_ white!"

North frowned. "How did _that_ happen?"

"I have no clue…" A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he shot a look at Aster. The Aussie's eyes narrowed, catching onto Jack's thought process. Jack broke eye contact, glancing over his shoulder at Ana. "How long does it take for hair to grow?"

"It grows about an inch in a month," she replied. "Why?"

Jack looked back at Aster for a second, and then back to the mirror. "It's nothing. We'll figure it out later."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The food was good, but the conversation wasn't. Isabel never stopped talking, but it became surprisingly easy to simply tune her out. A small conversation started up between North and Ana over a text one of them had gotten, speaking quietly enough to avoid attracting Isabel's attention. They appeared pretty frustrated over it. Sandy and Aster were the main focus of Isabel, leaving Jack to sit on his own and let the others pretend he didn't exist. It was preferable to Sandy and Aster's predicament. Sadly, it wasn't hard as it could have been. The others still weren't used to having him in the group, and he was able to fade into the background without any of them noticing.

"That's fine, that's fine," Isabel said, waving it off when Aster finally broached the subject of them splitting up in New York. "I had some stores I wanted to go to, and it seems like you all want to go to some of the _boring_ places, like Central Park. But I have one requirement!"

Aster groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "And that is?"

"You guys have to allow me to take you shopping at least once!"

"Isabel-"

"It'll be fun! And besides, I've taken the rest of you before-"

"We remember," North muttered under his breath, having come back into the conversation when it turned to New York. Ana was also paying attention. Sandy seemed content to just let the rest of them figure it out.

"-but I've never gotten time to spend with Jack!"

He almost spit out his drink, but kept it in. Jack shook his head, swallowing. "No, that's alright, I'm sure I can pass on the offer."

"I insist!"

"So do I, I'm totally fine sitting out on this."

"I'm not!"

"I'd really rather just stick with the others."

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

Jack shot Sandy a pleading look, but his friend only shrugged slightly. "Look, can we just figure it out then?"

"But there's important stuff we need to figure out now!"

"Like _what_?"

"What size are you? Do you prefer long socks or ankle socks? What about long sleeved t-shirts over sweaters?"

"Wait, _socks_, what-?"

"Yes, socks!"

"We're shopping for _socks_?"

"We're shopping for _everything_!"

"I don't like this idea…"

Ana escaped the situation by taking her dishes and starting to wash them off. North quickly followed suit as Isabel continued attacking every detail of Jack's wardrobe. Aster jumped ship soon after, and at some point Sandy just vanished. Jack was abandoned at the table, despite his every effort to get away (excuses including everything from needing to call his parents, homework, and a bathroom break). Isabel took no notice of his obvious discomfort or the disappearance of her family member and his friends.

Meanwhile, the other four reconvened upstairs. Ana shoved her phone in Aster's face as soon as he walked in the door. "Look at this," she hissed. "Text from Laura. The rumors are getting _worse_. How can they even be going on for this long?!"

"Ana, its high school," North said, sighing. "Besides, it's been less than a month."

"Have you even _seen_ some of this stuff? It's ridiculous! There's no way people are making up all this!"

"Ana's right," Aster agreed. "I mean, rumors do fly around fast, but this is nothin' short of spiteful."

"Someone's deliberately starting all of the rumors?" North asked.

"Yeah. An' I think I know who it is." Sandy nodded in agreement. Aster jumped slightly, having not seen him come in. He regained focus and held out his hand for Ana's phone. She gave it to him and he began skimming through some of the texts. "Look, most of this stuff… It's all offensive ta Jack, obviously, but it's, it's… It's just devious. Whoever started this knew that Jack doesn' pay attention to gossip, so he's never goin' ta hear any of this."

"Most of the students know that," Ana pointed out.

"Yeah, but how many are smart enough to use that against him? See, it's aimed at underminin' him. Like, this one," he said, showing a particular text to the others. "This rumor said he cheated on tests an' that's how he got such good scores. Jack isn' gonna care, even if he hears about that. But people will think he's a liar an' won' want to work with him at the tutorin'."

"They've been getting worse as they go," North said. "I think you're right, that it's planned. You said you know who it is?"

"Yeah. I can't think of anyone else it would be."

"Are you going to tell us?" Ana asked a few seconds later, when Aster didn't elaborate.

"No. I think having this happen to Jack is bad enough, but if it happens to all of us, we might not be able ta convince people ta come ta tutorin'. If it's only two of us, it won' be as bad."

"Wait, you're going to confront whoever it is about this?" Ana asked, frowning.

Aster nodded firmly. "Yeah. I've had enough of this guy."

"Pitch," North guessed.

Aster winced slightly at having the answer guessed so soon, but then nodded again. "Yeah. He's had a grudge with Jack that got even worse recently. An' it's about time he learned who all he's messing with now if he pisses of Jack."

Ana frowned, shifting her weight. "What are you planning on doing?"

Aster smirked.

The door opened, admitting Jack. "Okay, she's crazy. And you left me with her!"

"Hey, it was every man for himself," Aster replied. "You didn't see us helping each other, did ya? How'd you get away?"

"Told her I thought I heard her phone ringing and then ran for it when she went to look," Jack said smugly. "Is she going to come up here when she notices I'm gone?"

"If ya sent her ta her phone, she won' even notice yer gone."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**November 1**

Jack looked down warily as Ana disappeared over the edge of the roof. North was on the ground already, helping them down as they descended. Sandy was crouched midway between the window of his room and the edge, peering over to make sure Ana got down safely. He glanced back at Jack, and silently laughed at his expression. Jack raised his eyebrow slightly before looking back to the roof. "Isn't this… over kill?"

"Nah. If we went the normal way, Isabel would stop us an' we would never get ta school on time," Aster said. "Besides, this is way more fun."

"How often do you do this?" he asked, a bit exasperated.

"Every time Isabel's home, or if its night and we don't want to wake up the parents of whoever's house we're at. We have to do this for North and me too, on occasion." Aster shrugged. "No one's ever gotten too badly hurt before, so we just kept doin' it over the years."

"Wait, _too badly_ hurt?"

"Well, we've fallen once or twice, but there were always bushes to break the fall. Besides, that was before we figured out the trick to getting down safely."

"And the trick is?"

"Don't look down an' move fast before yer nerves get ta ya."

"Somehow, that's not comforting. Do you usually go last?" Jack watched as Sandy turned around, gripped the edge of the roof, and dropped out of sight.

"Someone's got to close the window behind us. Yer turn."

Jack stepped over the sill and walked carefully, keeping low and in a crouched position. A few bits of ice had frozen onto the roof, but he avoided them and moved steadily the whole way. He looked over the roof, seeing the other three below. Sandy waved at him cheerfully, but Ana was no longer paying attention. She watched the back door and windows to make sure Isabel didn't notice their impromptu escape. Why was he suddenly finding himself using windows as an alternative to doors? At least the ladder had had a direct route to the ground…

He copied Sandy's earlier movements, turning around to grip the edge of the roof. His legs went over, dropping below his torso and the edge. His knee knocked lightly against one of the back porch's posts, telling him where he needed to aim. He let his right arm go, getting a hold of the post and leaning his legs against it. His other arm let go of the room, letting him slide down to stand on the railing of the porch. Over his shoulder, he could see North nodding in approval, telling him he'd done it right. Jack quietly let go of the post, jumping lightly to the ground.

Aster shimmied down faster, having the advantage of height to make the descent easier. "Alright," he said, keeping his voice low, "let's get ta school before Isabel notices we left."

"Do you guys seriously think she woke up earlier just to talk to you when you go to school?"

"Yes," they all responded at the same time.

"Oh. Maybe the James Bond evasion technique there _is_ necessary…"

"With Isabel, ya can never be too careful." Aster turned, walking towards the road.

"She isn't home as often as she used to be," North explained, "so we don't have to worry about this as much anymore."

They were about twenty minutes down the road, laughing and joking when Aster stopped suddenly. "Crap," he groaned, "Mr. Watson wanted some papers… Let me go grab 'em, I'll be right back."

"Do you want us to wait?" Ana asked, but he was shaking his head even before she finished.

"No, no, don' worry about it. I'll meet ya at school, okay?" He turned and ran back in the direction they had just come from. Ana and Sandy exchanged a look that Jack couldn't quite interpret, but they smiled soon enough and tried to move him off the topic.

Aster and he hadn't had any time to talk since they had arrived at Sandy's…but there wasn't really anything else to be said. It didn't seem like Aster had spoken to the others either, although they had the time when Isabel had been holding him hostage. None of them had treated him any differently, though. It didn't seem like they knew what happened.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They got to school about ten minutes later. Aster rejoined them five after that, having apparently run the entire way home and back. School started just a bit later, sending them all off on their different ways to go to class. The day passed easily, seeming to get only better and better from class to class. He had several enthusiastic conversations with the teachers involved in the tutoring, and those who weren't were slowly beginning to warm up to him.

Government was the only road bump, but it was over quickly.

Pitch switched places with the girl next to Jack at the end of the period, like normal. Jack did a double take, noticing his broken nose, but not caring enough to ask about how that happened. It would have made more sense if he had noticed that Aster's hand had been bleeding when he had rejoined the group that morning.

"Heard about a ruckus down at the house you were making the drop at," Pitch muttered under his breath, quietly to keep from anyone else hearing. "The guy got arrested."

"I know," Jack snapped irritably. "The police came to my house just a few minutes later."

"Getting sloppy."

"That's not my problem."

"It's Emma's."

"No, it's yours. I'm done. Don't come back to me with this again." Pitch started to say something, but Jack cut him off. "No, don't bother threatening Emma or me. If you plant something on her, I've got enough information to ruin you." Pitch froze. "You never thought about _that_, did you? I've got as much leverage over you as you do over me. So let's just forget this ever happened."

Pitch glared at him, fist tightening. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

"Of you? No."

"Of course not of me, you dolt," Pitch snapped. "Of letting the other four down and disappointing your sister. You'd keep working with me if it weren't for that."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. What's so important about them, huh?"

"I guess that's something you're never going to understand if you don't get it already," Jack responded, turning away from him to focus on the English homework he was getting done. "Go scare some other freshman, will you? You're not a nightmare for me anymore."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: **_Important, please read. _**

Jack's limp was real at the beginning. As it continued on and began going along with what was going on around him, it became psychosomatic (all in his mind – he _thought_ it was getting worse but wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it was). So at this point, it's not really causing him much trouble anymore and won't again.

Some of my more epic analogies: Obviously, Baby Tooth the cat is, well, Baby Tooth. I couldn't color her random shades of purples and blues, so I made her grey. Obviously, the ferrets North as are the elves. I thought about little dogs, but that just didn't fit. Ana's mother cooks a lot because she's "cooking for an army". Like Tooth's army. Her army is also represented by her never standing alone. When she got in the fight with Pitch, the other three stepped in to help. The staff and hair for Jack are pretty self-explanatory. If you didn't catch that before, I'm gonna smack ya upside the head with somethin'. And chapter eight was fluffy and happy because it represented a change in Jack's life for the better. When they were all climbing out the window in this chapter, it was because they never really enter a house through the normal way in the movie.

REVIEWERS: I know, I know, I'm a horrible responder. To be honest, I'm usually typing the next chapter when you send it in, so I don't have much time to respond (or I haven't slept in a long time and am too tired). Also, my internet has been having problems recently and I've barely had enough time to get the chapter posted in some cases. I DO read your reviews and they encourage me to write faster. I've loved yours more than ones from any other story I've written, because you guys leave good reviews. I mean, some of the ones I've gotten have been pretty animated, which is really awesome.

And thanks to **snowwolfninjaprincess-23** and (anonymous) **KuroHikari **for helping with Aster's accent. I seriously thought about making it more accurate, but then I remembered that I'm ultra lazy and that frankly, if Aster's spent a while in Maine, he'll have started to lose the Australian accent.

Pitch was punched! **Jackson O. Frost** was the first to ask, but I think someone else did later… (And several people were just violent towards him in general.)


	11. Chapter 11

**November 8**

Jack sat down hesitantly in the cafeteria, trying to block out most of the sounds. Ana suppressed a grin, watching him as he skeptically looked at the flimsy tables and benches. "What?" she asked, not completely keeping the laugh out of her voice. He looked across the table at her, at Aster and North beside her, and then down the table a few feet away at another group of kids. He looked back to her.

"This cafeteria set up…is rather pathetic."

"The middle school's was even worse," North commented. He glanced around the room. "Where's Aster?"

"He wasn't in English or Trig," Jack said carefully. "He didn't seem sick to me on Friday, either." The group had only spent a few nights together last week, since most of their work was already done. They hadn't been able to spend any of the weekend together because Ana's parents had taken her away on a short trip to visit an aunt, North had been helping his father repair a shed, and Sandy had been more or less abducted by his sister. After no ransom note had been given, the rest of them had been able to guess the source of Sandy's sudden disappearance last Friday afternoon.

"We can stop by his house when school ends," North suggested.

"I doubt he's sick," Ana said. "He always comes to school, unless whatever he has is contagious or someone catches onto the fact that he's sick and makes him stay home. We didn't talk much over the weekend, so maybe there was a family matter?"

"None of the teachers asked if we had seen him today," Jack said. "It seemed they all knew where he was."

"So he had time to contact the school but not one of us?" Ana mused. "I mean, it makes sense, but if it were something important…"

Jack stood up. "You know what, I'd rather get out of here anyway. I can go ask the office if they know what's going on."

"I'll come with you," Ana said at the same time that Sandy stood up. North got to his feet as well. She looked at the two of them. "On the other hand, let's all go see what's going on."

They dumped any food left in their trays in the trash bins and left for the office. It only took them a minute to get there, and neither of the secretaries seemed to be busy at the moment. Both, however, averted their eyes as soon as the group entered the room. One of them leaned back in her seat and called out, "Mr. Vanesburg, Aster's friends are here."

The four exchanged surprised looks, and then looked at the principal's door as it opened. He looked grim, and waved them in. "I suppose you have the right to know what happened as soon as possible."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Someone lightly shook his shoulder. He didn't pay it any heed; this was the first bit of sleep he'd had in two days. The shaking became more urgent, and he tried to wave it off with a hand. Whoever it was grabbed the hand and shook it too, calling his name insistently as they did so. "_Aster_, wake up!"

"Lemme sleep." Dang it, he was beginning to awaken anyway. His neck muscles were cramped from the hunched over position he was in, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to sit up straight for a while because of his lower back. The plastic chair wasn't doing much for him either. "Tired."

"We have to change your bandages!"

"Can' ya do that later?"

"We put it off for four hours, and you're not even in the right room!" The nurse was definitely getting impatient, but he didn't have much sympathy for her. They hadn't let him see his brother for hours, even after the surgery had already been performed. "Aster!"

He sat up slightly, pulling his hand back to the bed he had been laying his head on. The nurse was standing right beside him, he knew, but he couldn't see her because of the bandage over his eye. They had said that would come off soon, just as soon as they were sure that no infection had set in. His eye hadn't been damaged, but the skin right below it had been and there was no way to cover it without overlapping his eye too.

"Don't be childish!" the nurse scolded him. "Come on, let's get you back to your room and change your bandages."

He gave her a one-eyed glare. "Have either of our parents woken up?" he demanded.

She hesitated, and then shook her head. "No, they're both still unconscious." She stiffened her resolve, and said, "But you still need to-"

"I don't _need_ ta do anythin' but sit here! Ya _want_ me ta do somethin', but there's nothin' I _need_ ta do. Don' make me move until someone else is wi' him," Aster snapped, looking back to his brother on the bed. "An' it's not goin' ta be my parents anytime soon."

"We can have a nurse here-"

"Who has a _job_ ta do!"

"Aster, we _have_ to change your bandages!"

"What's wrong wi' doin' it right here?" he demanded. He nodded at his brother. "I don' think he's goin' ta mind."

The nurse winced, and opened her mouth to say something. Nothing came out, so she just sighed as she gave in. "Alright, alright. We can change them here. Let me go get the bandages." She turned and left the room, but returned less than five minutes later. Aster did as she directed, lifting up his foot or lowering an arm as she changed the bandages. She continued ranting at him, telling him he should go back to his bed and sleep before he pulled some of his stitches or before he stretched some of the healing skin too far. He tuned most of it out, almost falling asleep in the chair while she changed the bandages. Through his haze, though, he could see the blood on the white fabric as it came off.

On Saturday morning, his parents had woken him and his brother up to go get the chores done so they could have Sunday free. They had already stopped by a hardware store for their father to pick up supplies to fix the radiator and were on their way to pick up some medicine for their grandparents. Aster and his brother had been talking to their mother about the tutoring program, trying to explain it in more detail. Aster wasn't sure his brother really got what he was doing, but he was enthusiastic about it because his older brother was. Their father had suddenly sworn harshly, swerving to avoid a car that had just run a red light. He had thrown his arm across his wife, holding her against her seat to stop her from flying forward. Aster had grabbed his brother, shielding him with his body.

A second later, and his father leveled the car out. For that moment, it seemed like they were in the clear. But their course had thrown them into the path of the traffic in the lane next to them, and a minivan slammed into the hood. Aster didn't remember much, having had his face buried in his brother's back, but he had felt the second vehicle careen into his side of the car less than a second after the first one. He had been knocked unconscious for a few minutes, but by the time he'd woken up he could smell the car burning and hear the 911 responders outside. His parents had already been pulled from the car amidst all the smoke, but the rear car doors had been jammed by the impact and the firemen were having trouble pulling them open.

He had unbuckled himself and his brother and picked up his sibling, pushing him through the gap in the front seats. Someone had seen his efforts through the window and tried to get through the flames to them. Unable to, they had begun throwing blankets over the fry to try to dampen it. Aster had snatched some of them up, wrapped them around his brother, and done his best to toss him out the open door. A few surprised yelps had confirmed his success, and his brother was pulled away and given CPR. The flames around the passenger door were doused enough for firemen to be able to reach in, and Aster had been able to clamber out with their help.

His parents were already at the hospital by the time he was out of the car. They hadn't been in the car long, so neither had burns. His mother had hit her head on the window during the crash and had bad internal injuries. She had been in surgery for several hours, but they couldn't do much for the brain damage. His father, on the other hand, had mostly external injuries from shattered glass from the windshield. Surgery hadn't been necessary, but he was still losing a lot of blood.

His brother had severe problems with his lungs from smoke inhalation and minor burns. When the car door had buckled inward, it had crushed his leg and broken the femur. His leg and burns were the least of his problems. He was on a respirator for the time being for his lungs, and wasn't responding much to the medication the doctors were trying to give him against infection and to help his injuries heal. Like his mother, he was bleeding on the inside from the impact and in grave condition. Surgery had been required, and they had done their best to repair the damage and prevent too much bleeding.

Aster had multiple burns across his arms from the flames he had pushed through to get his brother out. His back had been damaged pretty horribly in some places as a combination of burns and a piece of the car that had slammed into him. An x-ray had shown that a piece of his pelvis had been broken off, but it wasn't bad enough for him to need surgery; he would be on crutches for a while, though, and was the main reason the nurses didn't want him walking around. He had stopped paying attention a few minutes later into the doctor's monologue as he told him more about the burns he had received, so he wasn't sure where the rest were. He could only feel where the bandages were wrapped around. If they were anything to do by, then the damage was pretty extensive.

It turned out that the minivan had taken the brunt of the collision and that the gas tank had caught on fire and exploded. Everyone inside had been killed, and the fire had taken less than a minute to spread to the Bunnymund's car. The car on the other side hadn't been able to catch fire, as some bystanders had rushed over and pulled the driver and her boyfriend from the vehicle and dragged it away to keep _that_ gas tank out of the way. The fire on his parent's car hadn't yet reached the tank before the firemen arrived and they had dumped gallons of water on that area to keep it that way.

The nurse finished changing the bandages and left. The door closed behind her, and Aster turned back to the bed. He folded his arms on it again, looking at his brother for a few seconds. He couldn't do much for him at the moment, so he simply laid his head down to go back to sleep.

Half-awake, he heard someone enter and settle down in a chair behind him. Figuring it was just a nurse, he didn't pay them any attention. Two others walked in, moving around the room and stopping somewhere else. A fourth person entered, went around to the other three, and then sat down on the ground next to Aster. Nobody moved for a few minutes, and Aster drifted off to sleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"What should we do when he wakes up?" someone asked, off to his left. "Should we act differently?"

"I think he'd be pissed if we did," the person next to him muttered.

"Just…keep calm," a voice on the other side of the bed replied. "He doesn't need us freaking out right now."

"We're not freaking out, we just have no idea what we're supposed to do," his neighbor said, but it wasn't with an angry tone. He sighed. "It's not like we've ever had to do something like this before."

"Actually…" The female voice, the one across the bed, paused. "We didn't tell you this, because it was a bit early, but we have had a bit of experience like this before. See, ah, the rest of us don't really have parents. Sandy's aren't around much, and his sister isn't the best role model. North's parents aren't… He's a foster child. I was kidnapped as a baby by my mother's sister, and I only met my actual parents four years ago. There was a mistake in some paperwork that the police caught, and that's the only reason why I learned my aunt wasn't my real mother. So, I guess, you and Aster are the only ones with real parents."

"No… My father and I don't… We're not on good terms. And I don't know my mother very well."

"Oh, I'm sorry about bringing this up."

"No, I guess this is the kind of thing we all should know about each other. It would've been worse if one of us had said something and not realized the other's situation."

"I suppose…" Pause. "It's six twenty-four. The nurse said to wake him up in a few minutes to make him eat, right?"

"Yeah, I think so." The person beside him tapped his shoulder gently, avoiding any spot with bandages. "Aster, you gotta get up. Food."

"I know, I can hear ya guys," Aster grumbled, ignoring the request and trying to bury his head further in his arms to go back to sleep. "Actually, yer keepin' me from goin' back ta sleep."

"Sorry, doctor's orders. Come on, the faster you get up, the faster you can get back to sleep."

"Yer not my mother, Frosty, so back off."

"He's not a morning person, is he?"

"We try to avoid waking him up as a rule." He recognized Ana now as his brain started processing things more effectively. "Come on, Aster, you're already up and we're not going to shut up, so…"

He sat up wearily, burying his face in a palm to block out the bright hospital lights. "Ugh, I feel like I have a hammer in my head."

"You mean hitting you in the head?" Jack asked. Out of the corner of Aster's eye, he could see the teenager sitting on the ground, leaning against his brother's bed. Noticing that Aster had given him his attention, Jack smiled slightly, not showing any of the sarcasm he usually had in the gesture. He was glad Aster was reasonably okay.

"No, I mean _in_ my head." He sat up fully, wincing as the skin across his lower back screamed at him. The others flinched slightly at his reaction to moving, so he covered it up quickly with a yawn. "Who told you?"

"We went to the front office and asked, because some things seemed a bit off," North said. "We came as soon as school got out." North was sitting on the ground by the door, arms on his knees. Ana was on her back, hands holding the back of her head off the floor. Aster knew that if he turned around, he'd see Sandy in the only other open chair in the room behind him. All of them, including Aster, had blankets. Jack, having been the last one to come in, had probably given them all one before settling down himself.

"Hope ya told someone where ya were goin', or they're gonna think somethin' happened to ya too." The other four exchanged chagrined looks. "Oh good grief…"

"I'll be right back before my mom explodes from worry…" Ana muttered, running around from the other side of the bed and out the door. Sandy pulled out his phone and texted a message to his sister. Knowing him, he was probably leaving out critical information like the hospital they were at and the room number so that she couldn't find them.

"Same," North said, following Ana.

Aster looked at Jack, but his friend snorted and said, "I'll bet they haven't even noticed yet, and Emma probably thinks I'm just at one of your guy's houses." Aster nodded, turning back to his brother. Jack shook his head, grabbing his arm, once again avoiding bandages, and tugging him off the chair. "No, you have to eat."

Aster growled at him, snatching his arm away. "Jack," he began, threateningly.

Jack glared at him. "Aster. If you pass out from lack of nutrition, they're going to handcuff you to a bed to stop you from moving around and stick an IV in your arm. That's not going to help either of you."

"Don't ya dare-"

"I'm not threatening, I'm tell you what's going to happen." He didn't lower his eyes, even when Aster's glare became more pronounced. "The nurses are already thinking about sedating you. If you cause more trouble, they're definitely going to do something to knock you back a bit."

"They can't-"

"I don't blame them. You're acting a bit high-strung, and that's the last thing they need in a hospital. Go eat." Sandy waved his arms, getting their attention. He pointed at himself, and then at the ground. "See? Sandy'll stay here. He'll text us if anything happens, and Ana and North will be right back."

Aster gritted his teeth, folding his arms and glaring at Jack. But he allowed Jack to hand him the crutches and lead out of the room, and that was what was more important than his temperament. They were gone for maybe ten minutes, since Aster wouldn't allow them stay away any longer. By the time they returned, Ana and North were back inside and waiting for them. The light bantering with Jack the whole way seemed to have done him some good, and he was looking less tense when he returned. He gave the others a small smile to say sorry for his earlier attitude, but the expression faded when he took in their faces.

Ana was suppressing tears, North looked extremely grim, and Sandy couldn't meet their gazes. He stared at the floor, arms wrapped around his midsection. Aster looked at his brother's vital signs, checking to make sure they were all still the same as before.

"No, it's not him…" Ana choked out. "Aster, your mother…" She broke off, looking to North for support.

The Russian grimaced and said quietly, "The impact caused too much brain damage. Her heart rate spiked and they couldn't calm it back down… She's gone."

-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: I totally forgot to mention something in the last author's note (which was absurdly long anyway). Jack's hair wasn't turning white from drugs or whatever. Sometimes, in traumatic situations, people will actually lose the color in their hair. For some, it goes away, but for others, it stays with them for life. Obviously, Jack's will be white for the rest of his life. The hair doesn't instantly turn white or grey – that would be ridiculous. But the next hair that grows in will not have color. It took so long for the white to show because no one was looking for it and because it took a few weeks to grow in. The traumatic experience was Jack falling into the river and almost drowning.

And yes, I purposefully recreated the scene where Aster goes to the office to ask about Jack, but in reverse. I'm devious like that. We're spreading the hurt around a bit so it's not just Jack getting all the crap. The reason why I'm doing this to them is because it's going back to who they were in the books. North was an orphan, I've been told, Toothiana's parents were killed, and the rest of the Pookas were massacred (although I promise that I am _not_ killing his brother - it was supposed to represent his daughter, but was a boy because I had given Sandy a sister too). Sandy was formed from stardust, so he didn't have parents. And that's why Jack's doesn't know his parents very well – in the movie, he doesn't have them as an example because he doesn't remember them until the end. So by having a bad relationship with them in the story, he doesn't have "parents", per say.

And if you're wondering what the burns look like… well, I suppose they just might look like some of the patterns that were on Bunny's fur. It's not the entire pattern, like he only has the one spot on his cheek, because that would appear very bizarre if the patterns were symmetrical on his body. Just sayin'. Might be just a little weird.

Do I get a nomination for worst death scene ever with Aster's mom? I mean… that was pretty bad. I didn't even have a scene with her beforehand.


	12. Chapter 12

**November 13**

"Has anything new happened?" Ana asked the nurse in charge of Aster's brother. Her parents had demanded that she come home for the night because she had been at the hospital for so many days, and she was only now returning. Her parents had also gotten in contact with North's parents, and had only barely been able to convince him to walk Ana home. Through subtle manipulation, they had persuaded him to stay the night and get his rest there. Sandy and Jack, however, had stayed at the hospital with Aster despite the attempts of the doctors and nurses to get them home. The four of them had spent almost all of the past few days with Aster, but their parents were beginning to worry about how they were holding up.

The nurse shook her head in worry. "I'm sorry, but… Mr. Bunnymund woke up during the night and seemed coherent enough this time. The doctors spoke to him a bit, and told him about his wife. He handled it well enough, considering, at first…"

"Should I go visit him?" Ana asked. She hadn't considered going anywhere but straight to Aster's brother's room, which she now felt a bit guilty about. She had assumed family would be at his parent's rooms since they hadn't been with him. North had gone ahead of her and was with the others in Aster's brother's room.

"No..." The nurse shook her head harder. "I'm sorry, but the shock… It got worse. He didn't make it." Ana grimaced, looking down at the floor. The nurse put her hand on her shoulder. "You should go see to your friend."

"How's his brother?" she asked softly.

"Doing well, but… The doctors are afraid he may not wake up."

Ana frowned, looking up at the nurse. "A coma?"

"It's only a possibility. He might even wake up today," the nurse replied, trying to give a comforting smile. It was too forced to be much of a relief.

"Aster's not at risk for…" Ana trailed off, not sure what exactly she meant herself. "I mean, he's not…"

"He's not at risk for any severe long term problems. I would say he's the best off of the family. But… He's going to need support from all of you. His parents were both only siblings and his grandparents both need help getting around. He doesn't know his next nearest relations."

"Where's he going to go when he's released from the hospital?" Ana asked faintly.

"I don't know," the nurse replied. "His godparents are across the country, but they're flying in soon to take care of things. At least his parents made sure things would be alright in the case that something happened to them."

"Does Aster…?"

"Yes, he was still awake when his father passed and the doctors let him know what happened. Your other two friends were in the room and heard." The nurse removed her hand. "He's lucky to have great friends like the four of you. He's going to need you a lot in the next few weeks."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack leaned his head against the bed again, looking up at Aster silently. His friend was doing an incredible job of holding up in front of others, staying as strong as possible. It was almost like he was acting the role for his brother, and that he hadn't fully accepted that his sibling wasn't waking up. He could handle his parents, but his brother was the hardest part of everything that was happening. Jack could understand that. He would feel the same way about his sister.

Aster was beginning to show signs of weariness. It clung to his expression like the plague, making him seem older and grimmer. He could barely move much beyond walking simply because the bandages got in the way, and what little he could do was made difficult by pain. Jack wasn't completely sure, but he guessed that he'd been refusing pain medication out of fear that the side effects would make him fall asleep. He hadn't spoken to any of them at all about his either of his parent's deaths, and hadn't even mentioned his brother.

It was an absurd amount of emotion to be bottling up. It wasn't going to go well when it all boiled over. Maybe, though, there wasn't any. Maybe Aster was just too numb at the moment to fully allow what was happening to sink in. Aster was becoming more and more distant though, trailing off occasionally and succumbing to silence for hours on end.

"What's his name?" Jack said softly.

Aster glanced down at him briefly, before turning back to his brother. "Lachlan," Aster replied quietly. "He's nine years old."

Jack remained silent, looking down at the ground. There wasn't much to be said to that. Ana and North had returned an hour ago, and all of them were back to their original positions. They hadn't talked much, since there was nothing to say. The silence had hung over the group for the last few hours, with the exception of Jack's remark and Aster's reply, and no one had bothered to dissipate it.

The door opened, and a woman poked her head in. She frowned slightly in confusion when she saw the four friends scattered around the room in odd places, and then centered on the brothers. She locked gazes with Aster. He sighed silently, getting to his feet. Jack stood up, handing him the crutches and making sure he didn't stumble. He stayed in place, watching over his friend as he went to the door. The woman pushed the door open wider to help him out. The door closed behind the two a second later.

"Who was that?" Jack asked when he was certain they weren't still right outside the door.

"I'm not completely sure," Ana said slowly, "but I think that was his godmother. I don't think they know each other very well, and I've certainly never met her, so I'm not completely sure."

"I'm worried about him," Jack said softly.

"He's taking it better than any of us would," North replied, "but that's always been his way. He's always had to be the strongest."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Ya can' say that yet," Aster snapped, glaring at Harriet. She frowned at him like he was a disobedient child. Which he was, in a sense, but that was beside the point. "What if he wakes up and ya've already shipped me across the country? What then?"

"We'd fly you back, of course, but-"

"I'm not leavin' him so soon."

"Aster, be reasonable! I spoke to the doctors. This young, there's a much less likely chance he'll wake up. He's already been asleep for a week."

"So he's still got a good chance of wakin' up!"

Harriet frowned, folding her arms across her chest. "Aster, think about Liam and I. We have jobs at home that we need to be at and we're using sick days to come over here. It costs us more money every day we stay here, and we need to prepare the house if you're going to stay with us."

"I just lost my parents," Aster said quietly. "Can' ya just give me a few days?"

Harriet sighed, holding out her hands towards him. "Aster, it'll be more painful the longer you stay here."

"Yer askin' me to leave everyone in my life behind in a matter of days. My last family member an' all my friends."

"I'm sorry, I know you must have many-"

"Actually, there's only the four who've spent nearly every night since the accident here in the hospital with me."

Harriet stopped, blinking. "You mean, the four who're in the room right now?"

"Yeah." He took his weight off the crutches standing up straighter. He was taller than her, so he didn't need to make much more of an impression than he already was. "They've been great friends to me. I can' just leave 'em on a whim."

"I understand, but… If they're great friends, they'll understand that you need to leave, right?"

"But I don'."

Harriet blinked. "What?"

"I don' need to leave. I'd rather stay here."

"Aster, we're your godparents."

"So?"

She gaped at him.

"As ya said, ya've got work an' a life back in California, which ya should be gettin' back ta soon. But I've got a life here, too, that I don' want ta leave as much as ya don' want to be away from yers. I'm old enough that I could just become emancipated."

"So-So- We came out her for-" Harriet stuttered.

Aster stabbed one of his crutches down angrily against the ground. "Damn it, ya came out here in memory of yer frends, not for me an' Lachlan! Don' pretend differently. I don' want ta go ta California, and it'd be easier if ya didn' have to deal with takin' care of me. I can' do anythin' about the wills or funerals because of my age, but you can. I'm not even sure what ta do with the house an' everythin' in it."

"Aster, you have another think coming if you honestly believe we're just going to roll over and do as you ask," she growled at him. "We promised your parents we would take care of the two of you."

"I don' think they really planned on dyin', or they woulda spent a little more time considerin' who would be takin' care 'a us," Aster said, more than a little harshly. He shifted his weight on the crutches, starting to move off to go back to the hospital room. "How do ya know them, again?" Harriet glared at him, setting her jaw. Aster turned and hobbled away, barely using the crutches at all. She didn't follow him, instead choosing to stalk off in the direction of the waiting room.

His friends looked up when he entered and seated himself back on the chair. Ana was the first to speak up. "How did it go?"

"I don' think the two of us see eye ta eye."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**November 14**

It was North's turn to bribe/coerce/force Aster to get food. The other three were waiting in the hospital room in silence, having little to talk about at the moment besides conversations they didn't want to have. Ana was the most exhausted, besides Aster of course, having had the most homework and travel time because of having to go between home, the hospital, and school so much. She was fast asleep on the floor in her usual place. The nurses had been kind enough to smuggle blankets and pillows to them. They had pulled a few cots out, and the five had taken turns using them over the last week. Sandy and Jack had been practically dead on the cots when Ana had fallen asleep, otherwise she would have quickly been moved there and off the floor.

Sandy and Jack were both looking at her, debating on whether or not they should move her now. Neither wanted to wake Ana up while doing so, but they also didn't want her to get up later and be sore all over from sleeping on the floor. Finally, Jack gave in and walked around the bed, crouching down beside her. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder to wake her up. She groggily opened her eyes and looked up at him. Without saying anything, he took her hand and led her over to the cot. She lay back down and was asleep within seconds. Having been right behind Jack, Sandy picked up the blanket and pillow she had left on the floor and carried it over to her new position.

The door opened, admitting Aster's godfather. The man closed the door behind himself and took a look around the room, taking in the sleeping conditions the five teenagers had all been subject to. He waited quietly for a minute before speaking. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've really met."

"We all just kinda evaluated each other and debated over whether talking was worth an argument or not," Jack said dryly. "So, you're trying to take Aster to California?"

"Yes. His father and I were roommates in college. I'm afraid when they decided to make me their godfather, I was not married to Harriet. I love her, but she's not very…mothering. Don't take her actions too harshly."

"You know we're still going to, right?"

He smiled slightly. He held out his hand towards Jack, who shook it. "I suppose you already know, but I'm Liam Parlens. All I know of you is that you're friends of Asters."

"Yeah. I'm Jack, this is Sandy." He glanced down at Ana. "Nick is the Russian, and Ana's asleep here."

"It sounds like you've stayed here all of the nights with Aster," Liam said, leaning back against the wall. "That's very kind of you."

"I think he'd do the same for us," Jack said, a bit uneasy about where the conversation was going. "You've never met Aster before, have you?"

"No, unfortunately not. Harriet and I were planning on coming by next fall so his parents could meet her, but… And we wanted to meet his children, obviously. I had met them before when they were much younger, but I doubt either of them even remember me. Lachlan wasn't even walking yet, and I'm not sure Aster was paying attention enough to know that there was company in the house."

"I can imagine that," Jack said.

"How long have you known Aster?"

Jack glanced at Sandy, who offered no assistance whatsoever. "The others have known him longer, actually. I've met him in passing a few times, but I never really knew him very well until recently."

"He doesn't want to go to California, but I suppose you already guessed that. It's because of you, his friends, and his brother that he doesn't want to go. I don't blame him, but I'm afraid Harriet doesn't understand why. She feels it's her duty to Aster's parents that she take care of him, but he doesn't care to be coddled."

"Yeah." Jack shook his head. "Sorry, but I don't think we're going to get along very well with her on any level. I heard Aster's basically shoving all legal responsible on you?"

"I'm alright with that. It's the least I can do," Liam said. "Don't worry about that."

Jack sighed, looking to Lachlan on the bed. "No… I'm too busy worrying about other things."

Liam left a few minutes later after a half-hearted conversation with Sandy. Jack went back to his place by the bed, contemplating everything that was going on. On Aster's side, things were going as horribly as they possibly could. The longer Lachlan remained unconscious, the less likely the chances were that he would ever wake up. His injuries were healing up decently enough, though, and it didn't seem like any more surgeries would be necessary. Aster's burns were also mending, and the wrap around his eye had come off long ago. The brothers would certainly carry scars for the rest of their lives, but that was undoubtedly preferable to the alternative their parents had faced.

The legal things were being taken care of by Liam, apparently. Aster didn't seem to care much about what happened to the house and everything inside it, so Liam couldn't do much harm. Yesterday, upon returning from his first talk with Harriet, he had mentioned the possibility of emancipation to the others. Jack bet that he would just stay with one of the other three until he was eighteen. It was the most logical option if he no longer lived at home. If Lachlan woke up, he would probably just go with his brother. Jack doubted any of the parents would turn the two away. If the descriptions he had heard of North's parents were accurate, they would probably be squabbling with Ana's parents over who got to offer their house up first as residence for the brothers.

What worried Jack the most was the loss that was compiling upon Aster. To lose not one, but two of his parents within days of each other must have been horrible, especially considering how close he had been to them. How was he going to tell his brother if he woke up? Speaking of whom, if it came down to it, could Aster find a source of money to keep his brother alive? Whether he was awake or not, he was still going to require food and shelter. The hospital fee would be outrageously expensive the longer he was asleep. Jack suspected his friends' families would pitch in, but there was only so much they could donate. They also had to consider Lachlan never waking up.

As for himself… Jack was suffering from aches after sleeping on the uncomfortable floor and cots during the last few weeks, and had bags under his eyes from sleep deprivation in general. He hadn't gone home since learning about Aster's situation, although the others had all taken shifts to visit their families. They had implored him several times to go, but he had shaken off their efforts, retaining his post at the hospital through all hours. He wasn't entirely sure Aster was aware of who was with him when, but it didn't really matter. He just wanted to be there throughout whatever was happening.

At this point, he was actually a bit afraid to go home. He had never been away for this long, and with tensions already strained with his father, they were undoubtedly going to take a serious decline because of his absence. It didn't matter much to him, but it would surely make Emma upset. He had called on the second day of his stay at the hospital to let her know what had happened, so at least she wasn't worried too badly about him. She had been concerned about school, but had understood where his priorities laid at the moment.

With the exception of Aster, they had all been forced to return to school by the Wednesday of the week of the incident. Mr. Vanesburg had been understanding, but had reminded them that missing too much could result in them having to retake a class. They hadn't tried using the same reasoning on Aster, since he hadn't even been released from the hospital yet. There was considerable worry about the burns being infected, it sounded like, because of his refusal of medication. They had gathered up his homework from all of his classes and brought it to the hospital. He had gotten all of it done despite having not been in the class with help from the other four.

Aster and North came back a few minutes later and returned to their positions. None of them would move again until North went to sleep on the other cot at one in the morning.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: So, I mentioned earlier that I had some family members hospitalized. To be honest, that's the closest I've come to a death in the family (besides, you know, great-grandparents who were practically dead anyway [no offense to them, of course, but they were in their nineties] and I was really too young). As a result, I can't even imagine what I'm putting Aster through. That's why I'm not doing a lot of this through Aster's point of view, with the exception of when he's sleep deprived or not focusing on the deaths.

Okay, on a note not related to the plot: Obviously, I am writing at varying paces depending on what day of the week it is. On the weekends, I sometimes get three chapters done, whereas sometimes over the week days I don't even get two chapters finished. Do you want me to post them as I write them, or do you want me to hold off sometimes if I just posted so you don't have such a long break between the last one and the next one?


	13. Chapter 13

**November 16**

The pitying glances were the worst part of school. It was Tuesday, ten days after the accident, and students were still coming up to the four of them to express their dismay over what had happened. People who had never even _spoken_ to Aster were walking up and asking after how everyone was doing. It was so hard to not snap back that two of them weren't doing anything and that a third one may not ever again. Besides, shouldn't they wait for Aster to come back so they could tell this to him instead of making the four of them couriers? The teachers, on the other hand, had actually taken the liberty of gathering up the homework themselves and taking turns on who would go visit Aster in the hospital with the papers. They decided who had priority by who had homework that needed to be explained or if they had given a particularly difficult lesson. They were not letting one of their prized students fall behind.

The school hours were the worst parts of the day, throughout everything that was going on. What if something went wrong while they were at school and Aster was left alone at the hospital? What if he finally broke down and no one was there? What if his godparents convinced him to go to California and his friends weren't around to say goodbye? The questions were endless and unanswered. The four of them were paying much less attention to class than they should have been, but it didn't matter in the face of what was going on.

By lunch period, Jack gave up on waiting for the school day to end. He gathered up his tray without saying a word to the others, pocketed some of the food without anyone noticing, and dumped everything else in one of the trash bins. He put the tray away and left the cafeteria, heading down the hallway. Adopting a strange gait and holding his stomach, he put a hand over his mouth shortly before diving into the bathroom. He quickly ducked down, checking to see if there were any feet visible underneath the stalls (there weren't), and then walked into a stall. The remains of his lunch in his pocket were torn up and dropped in the toilet. Since the only thing in the toilet was water and food, he didn't have any qualms about mixing it around with his hand and then scooping out a few droplets of the murky mixture and scattering it on the edge of the toilet and floor. Considering the obviousness of what he was trying to do, he would need "proof" to make it work.

He went to the nurse's next after washing his hands, still holding his stomach. The nurse pitied him, like the rest of the school, and understood that his nerves had gotten to him and that he should probably just go home to rest. He agreed that he would call his parents and ask them to come pick him up. A janitor went to the bathroom to sanitize the floors as Jack walked out of the school. He made sure to go around the block and out of sight before taking off in the direction of the hospital, running as fast as he could.

It only took him a few minutes to get there, and he slowed down so it didn't seem like he had been chased by tigers on the way to the hospital. He walked in and went right past the front desk, knowing exactly where he was going by now. The elevator was busy, so he took the stairs. He was at Lachlan's room less than twenty minutes after he had left school. Aster didn't look up as he pushed open the door and walked in, settling down silently by the bed. His friend didn't ask what he was doing there so early or how he'd gotten out of school. He didn't say good afternoon or send him a grateful smile.

Jack hadn't expected him to.

"Sandy will be a bit later than the rest," Jack said quietly. "His parents finally got back, so he's going to let them know what's going on and then come here afterwards." Aster didn't respond and Jack didn't push it. They went back into their silence, because that was the safest ground they could both reach.

"Have ya ever regretted not sayin' enough?" Aster said in a low voice.

Jack jumped slightly, having not been waiting for a response. He glanced up at Aster, but his friend was still looking at his brother. "Yes," he finally said. "After my sister fell through the ice, I didn't spend much time with my family. I don't speak to her as much as I should. We just… stopped talking."

"Why didn't ya ever start talkin' ta her again?"

"I don't know." He pulled in his legs closer. "But I can't get those years back now."

"Then why're ya hangin' around here when ya could be talkin' to her?"

Jack frowned slightly. "Well, we're back on speaking relations on. I mean, we talk almost every day after school-"

"Ya've been here every day after school for the last ten days."

Jack winced. "Yeah. But she understands and she'd send me back here anyway if I went home. She was so excited when I told her I had friends this year."

"Ya should still be home talkin' ta her. Ya've spent all the nights here. Go home."

"I don't mind."

"Does she?" Aster finally glanced at him, but he was looking back to his brother again in a second. "What if she's not there tomorrow?"

Jack rested his chin on his knees, staring at the wall opposite him. He wanted to say something back to Aster, but wasn't sure what. He just didn't want him to lapse back into silence again. But he didn't want to say the obvious response, that Aster and the other three were just as important to him right now as Emma was. The fact that Jack had never had more than one important person in his life at one given time was something that Aster did not need to deal with right now.

"What about yer parents?" Aster asked.

Jack bit his lip, depending on how to answer. He had no idea where all these questions were suddenly coming from, but he had the feeling that this was going to be one of those conversations that no one ever mentioned again. "We don't talk."

"Ya seem 'em every day-"

"We just don't talk, alright?" He grimaced, annoyed that he had to cut off the one conversation he had had with Aster in the last four days, and the longest one since the death of his father. "I don't get along with them."

"Just talk to 'em. They're yer parents, they'll listen."

"No, they're not… Aster, my mom didn't even know that I had no friends at the beginning of the year. We don't talk at all except to say good morning and bye when we leave for school and work. And my father and I can't stand to be in the same room as each other." Jack bit off an end remark about their reactions to each other.

"Take it from me," Aster muttered. "Ya better talk to 'em before it's too late."

In a flash of anger, Jack snapped, "You don't know _anything_ about my home life."

"D'ya honestly think yer the only one out there with that kinda relationship with their parents? Idiot. What if somethin' happens? Ya might be alright with it, but what about yer sister? What happens when she asks ya about yer parents and tries ta get ta know them, but ya don' know anything?" Aster was facing him again, but Jack would rather have had him talking in the direction of his brother again.

"This is ridiculous, Aster, you know what the chances are of-"

"Jack, they _will die_ at some point! Everyone does! Yer almost ta college! I doubt ya'll ever turn around and come back to ask about their lives later. Ya better do it now."

"I'm never going to care!"

"But Emma will!"

"Don't make this about her!"

"No, it's about you an' yer stubbornness-"

"Stubborn? You're calling _me_ stubborn? After the four of us tried to get you to talk and had to drag you down the hallway to eat? Aster, do you honestly think you're helping him by doing this? What are you accomplishing?"

"Jack, don't ya dare-"

"Do _what_? Make this situation _worse_? No, you're doing that well enough by yourself!"

"I am _not_ talkin' about me-"

"Did you ever consider that the rest of us might want to?" Jack yelled at him, climbing up to his feet. Aster stood up, a good foot or so taller. The impression was muddled slightly by a stumble, caused by his injured side. "We have no idea what's going through your head! All we can see is what's going on outside, and that's unpleasant enough! How do you think Ana feels, that she can't talk to you? Or North? I'm not even sure how he can handle this much drama. Maybe Sandy has something to say, but he can't even get the rest of us to speak up because we're too afraid to break the damn silence!"

"It's not my fault-"

"Yes it is! We're waiting for you to talk because we have no idea what to say!"

"I'm fine!"

"That's the fattest lie I've ever heard!"

"I don' care! Jack, leave me alone!" Jack shut his mouth quickly, staring at his friend. "Ya've been here the entire time! Give it a break already."

Aster almost winced, almost turned the silence into a simple pause by adding something else. He couldn't find it in him to force his angry expression down and show the other emotion playing out in his head, the one of regret. It seemed too late to take back the words, though. Jack's hurt expression disappeared in a second, stiffening into one of cool acceptance.

"You should've just said so."

He had a slight limp when he walked out.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It had been stupid to think that everyone was like him. Just because he was craving for contact with others as a result of his seclusion didn't mean that everyone else felt the same way. It hadn't even occurred to him that Aster might have not wanted all of them there the entire time, and he felt a bit guilty about having not considered that before. It was rather obvious, now that he thought about it.

Jack sat down on one of the benches in the ER. He had wandered out of the wing Aster and his brother were in, and he wasn't completely sure how to get back. He could figure it out later. The nurses had looked at him oddly when he had left, but he didn't mind. People had certainly done that in the past. He leaned forward and ran his hands over his face, thinking. If he opened his eyes and looked up, he could see the edges of the white as it seeped out from the scalp. His hair had always grown fast, and he guessed that by the end of December, all of the brown would be gone.

The last thing he wanted to do was go back and apologize for what he had said, but he knew that was the only way he was going to get admittance into that room again. He hadn't actually considered that he could be kicked out of there, but it seemed like he was going to have enough time to think about it now. They had both said some things that were pretty out of line. Couldn't their apologies just cancel each other's out and neither had to say anything? That only would help if Aster wanted to apologize too, but that was rather unlikely. Jack wasn't going to go back and see if he had had a sudden change of heart in any case.

He was going to have to figure out what to do now, in any case. Maybe he could go home with North or Ana, but he didn't really want to explain why he wasn't staying in the hospital room anymore. Ironically, he'd rather be left alone. The opposite was what had gotten him into trouble in the first place, wasn't it? All he was certain of was that he couldn't stay at the hospital unless he had a medical emergency in the next few hours, and that he couldn't go home.

Jack stuffed his hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt. Something snagged his fingers as he pushed them in. He paused and pulled out the folded piece of paper. It was ordinary and torn from a notebook, he noticed as he unfolded it, and could have been anything from a graded piece of Trig homework to an English paper or a-

Suicide note.

"_Just know that this was going to happen no matter what. Usually, I'd leave something to my parents here, but…"_

Jack folded the note back up quickly, as if hiding a dark secret from everyone else. He stuffed it back in his sweatshirt, but it was too late. The words were ringing through his head again with the same tempo of that which he had written them with.

"_You two get to deal with most of the crap in my room. Sorry."_

He wrapped his arms around his midsection tightly, as if holding the note close to himself would stop the words from ringing in his head. Everything had been so hectic he hadn't even thought about it since the last drop he had made for Pitch. Why did it have to come back now? What was so damning about some simple letters on a page? He knew he shouldn't have torn it up and thrown it away or flushed it down the toilet, but he just hadn't been able to. There was something important about it but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. It was the turning point of his life, wasn't it? When everything took a turn for the better.

"_I tried to clean up, but I've never been good at that sort of thing." _

He wouldn't have had friends if not for the note, he realized with a shock. If he hadn't been sitting on the railing, about to jump, he wouldn't have fallen in. If he hadn't tumbled into the river, Aster wouldn't have had to jump in to save his drowning butt, and the two wouldn't have had to trudge through the woods to get to Sandy's house. Jack would never have known the four of them except in passing. He would have never had friends to rely on to such a degree as he did these four. He would have missed out on all the opportunities he had now. All because of that note.

"_Sis. You're going to do great things."_

He had to go home, he realized. Maybe it wasn't today, but he had to at some point. He was never going to get along with his father, let alone sit down and have a civil conversation with him, but he would have to deal with him. The sooner he could sort that out, the better for everyone. Maybe it wouldn't be exactly what Aster had suggested, but it was something. He could do that today, he supposed. He could go home for a while and try to calm his father down a bit before coming back to the hospital. While he did that, he should probably change clothes…

"_There's a few more hidden in the abyss of crap that is my room. It'd tell you where they are, but I'm not completely sure myself."_

There was no way he was going to be able to stay at home the entire night, but he could at least get priorities out of the way. He sighed, getting to his feet and heading down the hallway. It would only take him a half hour to change and take a shower. He'd be back before the others arrived at the hospital.

"_Oh, Aster… Thanks for waking me up."_

-.-.-.-.-.-

He felt incredibly guilty. He hadn't meant to snap at him in the first place. The words had just come out of his mouth faster and faster, and Jack had responded with just as much ferocity. After every syllable had come out, he had just wanted to take it back, but instead had thrown out more and more bile to slander him in. It was the result of too much pent up emotion and too much silence, all directed at the nearest outlet. Jack's responses had been too quick for Aster to be able to steer the conversation in the direction he had wanted, and before he had been able to stop himself he had said the worst thing he could.

He had rejected his friend and denounced a week and a half of his admirable efforts to help.

It would take some serious pondering to come up with a different scenario that could possibly be worse.

After the initial anger of the argument had worn off, he had settled back and thought about where Jack had gone off to. It occurred to him that he had absolutely no idea. Jack wouldn't have gone home, no matter what Aster had said. Aster hoped he had, if only to talk to his sister and tell her what was going on. She hadn't seen her brother in so long, she must be worried about-

With a sudden blast of realization, Aster realized why Jack hadn't gone home even after all the others had. Of course Jack couldn't go back. How would his father react? He hadn't heard anything from his son, and then he suddenly returns home with barely an explanation and turns around to disappear again for a few more days. Any father would be irritated, but Jack's…

Jack was smart, though. He knew that. There was no way he would go home. He was probably just somewhere in the hospital, waiting for Aster to cool down so he could come back.

The door opened, and Aster looked up as the doctor who had been taking care of his brother walked in. The man nodded at him, checking the machines to make sure everything was functioning correctly. He talked absently to himself, soothing Aster like he always did by telling him what his brother's body was doing to repair itself. Aster was almost asleep by the time he was done, but kept himself awake. The doctor noticed and smiled slightly at him, finishing up and marking off a few more things on his clipboard. He set that aside and walked over, crouching down by Aster's chair.

"Alright, let's have a look at you," he said, reaching up to hold some of Aster's hair out of the way. "Yep, that's healing up nicely. It's definitely going to scar, though." He took hold of his arm. Aster pulled up the sleeve and the doctor checked the bandages, making sure nothing was out of place. "That looks like it should be doing fine, too. There was a bit of an infection yesterday, but it looks like that's going away. You've got a pretty strong immune system." Both of his legs and other arm were given the doctor's approval, and they moved on to the part he hated. "Alright, lay down on one of the cots. Your back is what's worrying me the most."

Aster sighed, lying down on the nearest cot and tried to relax. The doctor pulled up the back of his shirt and examined the skin underneath, carefully prodding it in a few places. "It's not goin' ta cause permanent damage, is it?" Aster asked.

"It shouldn't, but it's too early to tell. This is still going to take a while to heal, and your sleeping conditions have not been making it easy for the skin," he reprimanded lightly. "I heard you're a swimmer?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'm sorry, but you shouldn't go into the pool for a while. The chlorine is going to hurt against the burns and you won't be able to swim with that distracting you. Or at least, you shouldn't." His fingers pressed gently into his back. "This is a real mess."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. It's the oddest healing pattern I've ever seen and it'll certainly scar oddly, but it won't cause permanent damage and you'll heal up in no time. I don't see any infections or other problems, although you're straining the muscles more than you should. Don't you think your body has enough problems without you adding more to it?"

Aster shrugged.

"Hmm. Think carefully before you fall asleep in the chair again, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll just stay awake."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know." The doctor removed his hands and Aster sat up. The doctor's smile faded away and he became serious. "I also know that you had a disagreement with your friend."

Aster grimaced, looking away. "It was an accident. I just… I just blew up at him, I s'pose."

"Yes, that's what it sounded like." At Aster's confused expression, the doctor elaborated, "I could hear you all the way down the hall." Aster groaned, and the doctor smiled slightly. "Are you going to apologize?"

"Yeah, the next time I see 'im," Aster said. "I mean, he wasn' exactly pleasant by the end of it either, but I caused more trouble than he did."

"What's your biggest concern about it? Losing his friendship?"

"No, it's that… I don' know where he went." He glanced up at the doctor. "I don't suppose anyone saw where he went?"

"Not that I know," the doctor said apologetically. "He'll come back, though. I didn't speak a lot with him, but he seems to care about you a lot. All brothers argue, don't they?" He stood up and gathered up his equipment to leave, letting his words sink in to Aster.

He had opened the door and was about to step outside when he heard Aster say, "Thanks, Dr. Moon."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: I didn't want to take away from the mourning that Aster's going through or dismiss his loss, but this was actually intended to give him a break from that. He was venting and Jack just happened to be in the line of fire. Aster was purposefully going after Jack's relationship with his sister at the beginning and was abusing the fact that he knew her and everything that had been going on between him and his family. I didn't want to make him seem like a total jerk, but… That's kind of what he's being. I wasn't sure I was fully re-creating the relationship that the two have in the movie (that hate-love thing) so I did this.

Also, Jack's reaction of needing to be around people more because of his lack of friends in the past is not something I just randomly made up. I'm actually suffering from something similar. I've never had more than one friend at school before and suddenly I've got four. I am not having as much of a drastic reaction as Jack is because I am close with my family and about four or five people from fanfiction. But you can still see that that's not a lot of people. I estimate that Jack would have a similar reaction, just more drastic.

Foreshadowing: Watch the note. It's going to be very important. Watch where it goes.


	14. Chapter 14

**November 16**

Aster glanced up from the bed when the door opened and Dr. Moon stopped in. "A nurse saw your friend leave an hour ago. He left the hospital."

He stood up hastily, ignoring the small fracture in his pelvis. Limping around the room, he snatched up his jacket and shoes, shoving them both on and making his way out the door until the doctor stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Wait, you haven't been released yet, and for good reason."

"Sorry, but I can't explain. I have to go."

"If you cause more damage to your hip-"

"I'll just be stuck here longer. Look, I'll be right back, okay? It won't take long."

"Aster-"

"I can't stay. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Is he in trouble?" Dr. Moon asked quietly. "Your friend?"

Aster nodded grimly. "I can't say anything else. But I'll be back."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took him longer than he had thought it would to get to the bridge. If Jack had left the hospital, home was the last place he would go to. Even if he thought Aster had permanently kicked him out of Lachlan's room, he'd most likely go to someplace that was important for him. In the case Jack wasn't here, he'd probably gone to Ana's or Sandy's. That was where Aster would go next if he couldn't find Jack at the bridge. He didn't know why, but this place held a lot of importance for his friend. It didn't make any sense to him, although he thought it might have something to do with his near brush with death here. Aster hadn't been in the river as long and he'd had confidence in his swimming ability to survive, but Jack had not only nearly drowned but had then almost died of hypothermia because he hadn't had clothing as warm as Aster's.

He caught a glimpse of the small, flimsy wooden bridge through the trees. There was no one on it. As he approached, a frown appeared on his face, considering why he had ever thought Jack would come here. Of course, he _had_ seen him run here after the fight with his father the first time he heard the yelling, but that had only been one time. Actually, why _had_ Jack gone to this place at that time?

He reached the bridge and hesitated, looking at the railing. A bit of snow had been knocked aside, as if someone had rested their arms there for a time. There were fresh footprints leading from the bridge in the direction of Jack's house. _Had_ he been here? Aster hoped not. If so, then the next place he had gone was... He followed the footsteps, uneasiness growing in his stomach as they led him closer and closer to the house. For once, he found himself wishing he _hadn't_ been able to persuade someone to do something.

**-.-.-.-.-.-.**

"You are not going to believe what happened," Ana said, smirking, as they walked out of school. "We don't need to worry about the tutoring crashing and burning at all."

"Hm?" North glanced at her, hefting his backpack over his shoulder. He frowned slightly, scanning the crowd. He didn't see Jack, but their friend hadn't shown up at anymore of their classes after he had left the lunch room. North assumed he had skipped and gone to the hospital. Jack had taken the car crash surprisingly hard.

"Some of Pitch's lackeys were giving me trouble during history and the teacher wasn't paying attention in the slightest."

"Pitch's friends?" North said, stopping suddenly. He and Sandy looked back at the school, almost as if they were about to march back there and find the culprits.

Ana grabbed their arms, stopping them. "Wait! I didn't finish. You know Tommy Laughlin?"

"Who?" North said, but Sandy nodded vigorously. He put his hand out at hip level and then brought it back to thump his fist into his palm. "Bully to little kids?" North guessed.

"He was a huge bully when we were all little and has gotten worse over the years."

"He joined in?"

"Yeah," she said, grinning, "on my side!"

Sandy and North stared at her for a moment. North started laughing. "Against Pitch's friends?"

"Yes!"

"Did they say why?"

"No, but he jumped in as soon as Pitch's friends mentioned tutoring!" Her smiled got wider. "And two more of Tommy's friends joined in, and the teacher _finally _noticed something was wrong and gave a detention to Pitch's friends!"

North laughed louder. "And Tommy?"

"Almost got detentions too, but I explained what had happened. And guess what Tommy said to me after class?" Without waiting for a response, she continued. "He said he thought it'd be pretty cool if we started up tutoring at the elementary schools too! Apparently he's got two little siblings who need help in math!"

Sandy grinned, clapping his hands together in approval. "We need to tell Aster," North said, gesturing for the other two to hurry. "This'll lighten his spirits!"

"Erm, spirits is alcohol."

"Isn't that correct phrase?"

"You mean 'lighten his spirit'."

"Same thing!"

Sandy and Ana exchanged a look and followed North to the hospital. Sandy mentioned that he had seen one of Tommy's friends later in the day after Ana's history class talking harshly to Pitch but he hadn't thought anything of it until now. The short teenager left a few minutes later to explain where he had been to his parents, who had just returned home from their trip, leaving North and Ana to talk about the day and what it meant for the tutoring program.

They waved at the receptionist when they entered the hospital. She smiled back and then paused, remembering something. They were already around the corner when she stood up, trying to get their attention. The pair was already gone, so she sat back down and sighed. They'd learn soon enough.

They arrived at the hospital room a few minutes later, still talking. Ana abruptly stopped, mid-sentence, when she saw the empty room. North paused, and then walked away. "Dr. Moon might know where they are," he said. Ana nodded and stepped inside. She sat down on one of the cots, watching Lachlan sleep for a few seconds. He hadn't changed since this morning.

It seemed odd that neither of the other boys were here. Unless Aster was in the restroom, there was no other reason he would have left. He had to practically be dragged to the cafeteria, but Jack wouldn't have done that if there had been nobody else in the room. Besides, it was an odd time to do that at.

North returned a few minutes later, shaking his head. "The doctor says Jack left a few hours ago and didn't return. Aster left half an hour ago, and it seemed like he was going after Jack. There was some sort of problem. The doctor says they both looked pretty upset about something."

"Did they say where they went?"

"No, they just left."

**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-**

"Sanderson, right?" the officer asked. Sandy nodded, took out the pad of paper, and scribbled down the abbreviated form of his name. "Ah, I understand. Sanderson's a bit of a mouthful." She sat down across from him at her desk. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience. I'm Officer Cook. My partner, Officer Nimoy, told me that you preferred to talk here instead of at your house?" Sandy nodded. "Care to explain why?"

Sandy scribbled down _Parents_ on his notepad. He passed it to her. She glanced at it and then handed it back to him. "Ah, you don't want them to worry," Cook presumed. She paused, considering about how to go about this. "Do you have any idea about why we would want to talk to you about Jack Frost?"

Sandy shook his head. Shortly after he had left his house to return to the hospital, a police car had pulled up beside him and explained that they needed to talk about Jack. He had nodded, confused, but ushered them away from his house and agreed to take the conversation to the station.

"Alright. But first, is there anyone going to be expecting you somewhere?"

Sandy shrugged slightly, and then scribbled down a few notes about needing to go to the hospital and telling his parents about where he would be. At her confused expression, he frowned, as if expecting her to have known about something. He explained that a friend was in the hospital and that Sandy, Jack, and a few others had been staying there. Cook nodded, letting that information sink in. He waited a few seconds for her to respond.

"I better not keep you waiting much longer, then. I'll cut right to it." She leaned her forearms on her desk and met his gaze. "Do you remember where you were on Halloween?" Sandy nodded. "Could you give a timeline of your day and who you were with when?" He nodded again and began writing. She waited patiently until he was done a few minutes later. He passed over the notepad and she glanced over it multiple times. Then she set it down on the desk and looked between it and another pad of paper, comparing something.

Sandy shifted uncomfortably in his chair and pointed to a note he had left for her at the bottom of the page. _Why do you need to know? _

"I'm sorry, but I can't let the events that occurred as I know them bias how you saw it happen." He frowned, tilting his head. Words weren't necessary to get across his confusion. "Are you absolutely positive the last time you saw Jack Frost was four thirty? Is there any way that you all delayed and you saw him at five instead?"

Sandy shook his head. He pointed to his eyes and then at a clock on the wall.

"You looked at a clock?" He nodded. "Did you leave before Jack?" Sandy shook his head. "At the same time?" Nod. "Did Aster Bunnymund and Jack leave together?"

Sandy paused, tilting his head back and forth in a gesture to show that there was no definite answer. He drew the letter S, A, and J to represent him and the other two and drew a line between the S and A with an arrow at the end, showing them go one direction. He drew a line off the J and had it follow the same path for a few inches and then turn off to the right.

"So you and Aster saw Jack leave at the same time? Did Aster suddenly go back to talk to him or anything?"

Sandy sighed irritably, setting his jaw. He pointed at the question on the pad of paper, refusing to say any more until he had been answered.

Cook rested her elbows on the desk and clasped her fingers together, providing a place to rest her chin. "On Halloween, we were given a tip about a batch of drugs that had just been delivered. We arrested the man on the receiving end, but the delivery boy was able to slip away. The citizen who called in the tip had gotten a glimpse of him, however, so we told every police officer in the area to look for someone matching the description we were given. Sandy, the only person in the area we could find who matched it was your friend, Jack Frost. I was talking to him to see if he had an alibi for the crime, which he was looking pretty good for, when Aster Bunnymund showed up and said Jack had been with him when the crime had been committed." She held up Sandy's pad of paper. "The problem is… Neither of their timelines match up with yours."

All the blood drained from Sandy's face.

Cook tore off the top sheet of paper, the one with the timeline on it, and handed the pad to Sandy. He snatched it back angrily, furious about being used against his friends. She grimaced as he stood up abruptly, about to walk out of the police station. "Hold on a second, let me explain something before you get the wrong idea." He didn't move to the exit, but didn't stop glaring at her either. "I'm not taking this case to court. Any evidence specifically tying Jack to the crime is by now long gone. The only evidence is your testimony, but that's not very strong considering it happened more than two weeks ago and Aster provided a story that day that was directly counter to what you said. I'm not going to make you testify against your friend, and I'm especially not going to put all of you against each other in a court room." Sandy relaxed slightly, but his expression became wary. "You're wondering why I brought you down here, then, if not to charge Jack." He nodded. "I don't know why he was involved. Maybe he was trying to stop the real delivery man, maybe he _was_ the delivery man. Whatever the case is, he _cannot_ show up with any relation to this again or he _will _be taken into custody. Do you understand?"

Sandy nodded firmly.

"He was in a report in a similar situation a few years ago. I decided to let him off this time, but chances are that I will not get the case if he shows up again. The next officer _will_ detain him for as long as possible and interrogate him for information. I think he's just messed up right now. Whoever gets his case the next time won't agree. This is a threat. I'd take it as a last chance, too, if I were you."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The bowl crashed into the wall next to his head. He flinched away and glanced at his father. The man approached all too rapidly, and Jack moved too slowly to dodge him. A forearm slammed into his neck and shoved him back against the wall, pinning him there. "I'm sick and tired of you! You never help around the house and it's always your fault when something goes wrong!"

Jack tried to shove the arm off, but his father grabbed the front of his shirt in his fist and kept him there. The teenager grabbed his hand and pushed up to elevate himself before the pressure on his neck stopped him from breathing. "If I'm not around, then how's it _my_ fault? Most likely yours instead!"

"Don't get smart with me!"

"You never cared before!"

Jack reached out to strike him, hoping to startle his father into letting him go. He didn't have much of a plan after that, since he was pretty sure some of his ribs were broken and he had a concussion, but he was going to try. His father began hit him at the same time out of anger.

They both stopped mid-swing when they heard a knock at the door.

"_Domino's Pizza!_"

The two stared at each other for a second, not completely sure what just happened. His father dropped him carelessly and walked out of the kitchen. Jack's legs gave out and he found himself sitting on the floor. The wall he was leaning against blocked him from the view of the front door, but he could still hear what was going on. His father grabbed a jacket that would cover up the wounds he had sustained and his son's blood, zipping it up and hiding the majority of the evidence. The door opened as Jack's father looked outside to see why the pizza delivery man had gotten so lost. "We didn't order a pizza."

"No, it's about a pizza that was delivered and unpaid for. It was on the seventeenth."

"We didn't order a pizza then either!"

"Well, we have it down on our records that ya did."

Australian?

"Your records are wrong!"

"I can't leave until we've got this sorted out. Can I see some form of ID?"

Jack's father tromped around the living room for a few minutes before he came up with something and gave it to the "delivery boy". "Sorry, not good enough. Can I see your driver's license?"

"You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me!"

"I'm not."

Another search procured the sought after identification. The delivery boy examined it for a few seconds, and Jack's father began to get impatient. "Come on, I'm busy!"

"I am too! Ya think I came over here just 'cause I had free time? Now, my records also say that you're under suspicion for tax evasion as well. Can ya show me proof that you've paid off your taxes?"

"My taxes- Wait, I thought you said you worked for Domino's?"

"It's a part time job."

Jack stifled back a snort of laughter, leaning his head back against the wall. Aster had it under control. He'd just wait here for a few minutes and then walk out the back door. Jack closed his eyes, promising himself he'd only rest for a little while.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**November 17**

By the time they woke up the next morning, Jack and Aster still hadn't returned to Lachlan's room. Sandy, North, and Ana all shared worried glances, but there wasn't anything to be done about it. They didn't know where either of them had gone, or even how long Jack in particular had been missing for, so they couldn't even guess as to where he might be. At twelve at night, when neither had shown up, Sandy had left to go see if they were at Aster's house, but had returned with a grim answer. North decided that if by the end of the school day neither had shown up, they would explain the situation to the front desk and ask for Jack's address. If he wasn't at home, they would file a missing persons report with the police.

Dr. Moon walked in just as they were solemnly packing up to leave for school. He looked at the three of them, grimaced, and dramatically gestured with his first finger and middle finger to come. They followed him out of the room and down the hallway. None of them broke the silence, too concerned about what the answer would be to ask. He led them down a flight of stairs to the ICU and around a few hallways.

The doctor stopped abruptly and pointed further on down. "Room 164. It'll be on your right. Don't expect good news."

-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: I swear, I didn't mean to not post for this long. I didn't have writer's block. It was the opposite. I'm not apologizing for the wait because I rewrote this chapter _seven times_. I mean, 3,000 words each. I'm not going to say that updates will be faster soon because I have some things to get done, but they won't take this long because I don't have to rewrite it (hopefully) seven times.

Two mentions to reviewers! First, to **ThatOneFan**. I had dropped in this hint that the problem with Jack's father was going to be over soon by saying Aster sat outside Jack's house for a month. **ThatOneFan** caught onto that and asked, 'Well, what happened at the end of the month?' I was smirking that someone caught onto that, but was so irritated when I realized I had messed it up. I hadn't intended to include the car crash so soon, and so Jack and Aster were at the hospital instead of at Jack's house.

**Kaycee. Columbell**! She sent me a PM asking if I was continuing it. Thank you for the support and checking up on me!


	15. Chapter 15

**November 16**

Aster brushed the back of his hand across his forehead. It wiped away some of the blood dribbling down into his eyes, but mostly just smeared it some more. It didn't help that his hand had blood on it too.

He was positive that the two of them looked like an absolute wreck. Both of them had multiple injuries and blood all over. Aster wasn't sure how much of the blood on his clothes was his, or if any of it was. He knew some of it was Jack's and some of it could've been from Jack's father. The freshman, for his part, was practically soaked from head to toe and was the sorriest piece of crap Aster had ever seen. Again, not all of the blood was Jack's, but a lot of it probably was. Jack's father looked like a mess, too, but Aster didn't care what happened to _that_ guy.

His hands kept trembling. No matter how hard he clenched his fists together, they continued shaking. He repeated to himself that it was childish, and that he hadn't reacted nearly this badly during the car crash, but reason kept coming back and slapping him in the face. The car crash had lasted barely a few minutes and he had passed out on the way to the hospital. He hadn't even been fully aware of what was happening. This was all too real and he didn't have the mercy of slight head trauma to ease the facts of what was going on.

They were a few miles from Jack's house at this point. That was as far as Aster had been able to get. They were painfully close to the hospital, but in the dark, hardly anyone noticed the pair collapsed on the side of the road. He had tried to get up to wave someone down, but even then the two people who had passed by were too tired to notice something odd on the side of the road and Jack looked heartbreakingly alone whenever Aster wasn't near him. So he stayed sitting in the snow – cold, wet, miserable – and clung to his friend. For the first time, he was glad he hadn't seen his parents before they'd died and hadn't been with them. Jack looked pretty close to death right now, and as Aster's imagination began to run around wildly, he swore he could feel the life beginning to leave the body he was clutching. It was worse than simply being told what had happened later when there was nothing he could do.

The part that hurt the most was that Jack had never come to him about his father. What was wrong with him? Had he thought Aster would laugh? Did he think he wouldn't take him seriously, that maybe Jack was just trying to get attention? Or should Aster have just taken up the initiative and entered the house?

What if Jack died because he'd never knocked on the door?

He hugged him tighter, cradling the cold body closely. Was he breathing? Maybe. Aster skin was too numb to feel a breath. It was the same as how he had been emotionally following the accident. His brother's situation hadn't sunken in. It would've hit hard if Jack hadn't been there. Aster didn't know him well enough to think of him the same way as he thought of their other friends, and he already felt defensive of the smaller teenager because of his home life. He'd accidentally adopted him as a surrogate brother. Jack had taken the place of Lachlan, giving Aster the protective older brother role once more. He hadn't noticed that until now, but because he had, he could see Jack fitting into Lachlan's place easily too. But it wasn't really _Lachlan's_ place. Lachlan followed along like a puppy and always asked what they were going to do next, whereas Jack trotted beside him with an easy smirk and a teasing laugh and didn't care what they were doing next as long as it was fun.

He'd always wanted a family, hadn't he? Besides his sister, he probably hadn't had one before. His father had never been there before him and his mother never took a second look at him. She probably never would. She wanted to believe everything was okay. Jack didn't have a reliable family to be with until the tutoring. It was ironic. He had needed guidance to get him away from Pitch and some way to learn, and no opportunity had come for him. He was, however, helping with the tutoring, which had turned from simple academic learning to a way for kids to get out of their bad situations and taught them to have hope for a better future, wonder at the new changes in their life, a return to the carefree days of their childhood, and dreams for what was to come. It was a perfect match.

Suddenly, Jack's body became alive, frantically clawing at the arms holding him. Aster jumped at the sudden contact and let go of Jack, having become so used to the limp, nearly dead body that this new development was almost the same as the moon suddenly going from west to east instead of the other way around. Then he realized what was going on as Jack rolled away, limbs shaking from adrenaline and fatigue, and tried to get to his feet. Aster scrambled up, his cold legs making his movements slow and awkward. Jack turned away from him, probably not even comprehending where he was or who was with him. He stumbled a few steps forward, going straight into the street. Aster grabbed hold of his arm, yanking him back and stopping him from getting run over by a pickup truck. The vehicle honked loudly, causing Jack to flinch, but Aster ignored it. "Jack!" he called, trying to get his friend's attention.

He shook his head, pulling at his arm to get away. Aster ignored the pressure, running his gaze over Jack's body to see how he was holding up. Could he walk to the hospital in his current state? Would they make it? Jack struggled futilely some more, but Aster reinforced his grip with his other hand to stop him from running off. "Jack, _stop_!"

"_Let go!"_ he hoarsely yelled in return, upset and frantic. "_Let go_!"

"It's me, ya gumby!"

"_Aster_?!"

"Who else?" Jack nearly fell over but Aster held out an arm, stopping him from collapsing. Before his actions caught up with his brain, he wrapped his other arm around his friend, embracing him. Jack stiffened for a second, but didn't move away. "Ya up for some walkin'?" Aster asked when Jack finally came to the conclusion that his friend wasn't letting go.

"Walking? Where are we?" He looked up, glancing around and frowning when he didn't recognize anything. "What the…?"

"I got ya out of the house when ya were semiconscious. We got this far before I realized ya were totally out an' I couldn't get ya any farther."

Jack leaned away and Aster let go. He wrapped one arm around Jack's torso and helped him up. Jack kept a strong grip on his shoulders to stop himself from toppling over. He glanced sideways at Aster, curious about where they were going. Aster nodded firmly back, starting off again in the direction of the hospital. He caught a smirk from Jack, who was already returning to his normal mindset. Jack didn't know where they were going, but he didn't care as long as they had fun while doing it.

"Where'd he go?"

"Face-planted into the wall. Looks worse than both of us."

"After we get to the hospital, I doubt that. He didn't have to trudge through the snow. Why are we out here anyway?"

"If ya wanted to stay _there_, then be my guest and go back."

"Haven't we passed any homes we could knock on the door of?"

"I took the shorter route, which leads us right past small businesses. An' at this time, none of them are open."

"How much longer?"

"Half a mile, maybe. I couldn't take yer weight anymore an' had ta stop."

Jack remained silent for the rest of the walk as his breath got shorter and shorter. Aster routinely glanced at him to make sure he was okay, but it didn't help since there was nothing he could do to help at the moment but get him to the hospital as fast as he could. Another quarter mile passed, and he could feel Jack getting limper and limper.

How were they going to ohshithishipwasstillfracture d-

He would later deny yelping that loudly when his hip gave out, just as Jack denied the sound that came out of his mouth when they toppled down. The two looked at each other in surprise, both realizing that they had yet another problem on their hands. Jack gritted his teeth together and awkwardly tried to pull the two of them to a standing position. Aster brushed his hands away, shaking his head. "Ya can barely walk yourself, let alone with me." Jack growled something unpleasant under his breath in response, glancing in the direction of the hospital. It wasn't even in view yet. "Come on, I can make it," Aster said with a huff. "You're another story." Jack glared at him as he stumbled up his feet, nearly falling face first into the ground. Jack got up mostly by himself, but he soon returned to being supported by Aster.

The Australian frowned, looking closer at him. "Are you okay?"

"Just peachy."

"Ya look like you're about ta pass out."

"I'm _fine_," he replied, even as he got limper and limper.

Suddenly, there was a shout of surprise and astonishment. This alerted someone else, who opened a door and ran outside. Within seconds, Aster could hear about ten people coming closer. The weight of his friend was suddenly relieved on the other side, but before he could look over to see who was helping him, Jack's other arm was taken from around his shoulders and he was pulled away. "No-!" he yelled out of surprise, reaching forward to grab his friend. Hands held him back. He struggled, ignoring the soothing voices. He saw the two men on either side of Jack cry out in surprise as the teenager finally collapsed between them, but they caught his body and stopped it from crumpling painfully to the ground. "Leave him alone!"

"It's okay, it's okay, buddy," someone said next to him. "Listen to me, it's going to be alright."

"Leave him alone!" Aster yelled again, trying to pull away from whoever was holding him. The hands didn't let up, forcing him down to the ground. He sat abruptly in the middle of the road, unable to muster enough strength to do anything else but comply. The men and women around him were all enveloped in shadow, but other than that, they weren't very intimidating. The two men holding Jack carefully laid him on the ground, one of them holding a hand an inch over his mouth and nose to see if he was breathing. The other one took his pulse to check the heart rate. A woman crouched down beside him, pressing the back of her hand against his head.

"He's freezing. Get him inside!"

"No, Jack-"

The woman froze, standing up sharply and pushing some of the people aside to get a better look at his friend. Aster glanced between the two of them, worried about what these people wanted with them. Where had they come from, anyway? The woman looked at Jack a bit closer, but it was probably hard to recognize him underneath the amount of grime on his face. She glanced back at Aster. "Jack Frost?"

"Yeah."

She stared at him. "And Aster Bunnymund."

He frowned. "Yeah…" Her voice clicked in his head. "You're-!"

"Get them inside!" she ordered to the people around. They immediately complied, carrying Jack between four people. They tried to do the same with Aster, but he pushed them aside and got to his feet. He had his pride. Two people flanked him on either side, making sure he didn't fall. They guided him after Jack and the ones holding him, bringing the pair into the building they had all come out of. With vague amusement, Aster noticed their location. They were being saved by a bunch of off-duty cops who had taken the night off at a bar, two of whom had accused Jack of drug dealing and tried to arrest him. The irony was overpowering.

He glanced at Officer Cook as she led him inside and pushed him down into a seat. She watched with a critical eye as some of her fellow officers made a fast bed of jackets and sweatshirts on the floor and laid Jack on it. Some stripped off shirts, holding it down over places where they thought he was wounded. They would see a few seconds later that the blood was deceiving and there was no injury there and move their pressure to a different place. Someone finally grew tired of the guessing game and got two others to help him start stripping Jack of his shirt and jacket. They focused there for life-threatening injuries, but someone was checking his legs just in case. Cook's partner was nearby, and was already calling the hospital. Cook crouched down in front of Aster. "What happened?"

"I…" he started to say, looking at Jack on the floor. He thought of a million different ways to tell her what had happened, to demand she arrest Jack's father right now, to ask if Jack was going to be alright. Something held him back, reminding him that she may not be his friend right now. What if she used this weak moment to pry information out of him that had better remain secret? He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. "I'm tired."

"Is anyone else in danger?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

Aster glared half-heartedly at her. "I couldn't care less if he died or not. He had it coming."

Cook looked stunned for a moment, but Aster closed his eyes again and leaned back against the wall beside him. Cook stayed right where she was, able to keep an eye on him and Jack at the same time. A minute later, the door opened to the bar and paramedics came in. He was conscious of them carrying Jack away and trying to talk to him. Cook kindly pushed them off the topic of what had happened and made them focus on the result. Maybe he could _consider_ letting her know what happened…

He stood up when they asked him to and walked out of the bar. They tried to push him towards another ambulance, but he followed Jack's stretcher and walked beside him, scrambling for a moment to grip his hand. Jack returned the pressure, opening his eyes slightly to look at him. "…anks…"

He didn't let go, climbing into the ambulance with the paramedics working on Jack. The doors shut a few seconds later and the van was off, carrying them to the hospital. The EMTs asked some of the basic information, about whether Jack had ever had any reactions to medication, his date of birth, and who they needed to contact. Aster answered as much as he knew, responding very bluntly that no one who needed to be contacted would answer. His tone left no room for argument and the paramedics left that alone for the time being. By that time, they were at the hospital, and the stretcher came out of the back of the ambulance a few seconds later. They tried to separate Aster from him, but he gripped the side of the stretcher and refused to let go.

Three paramedics finally dragged him off, forcing his hand to tear away from Jack's, speaking in firm but soothing tones. He ignored them, staring at the arm that had weakly raised from the stretcher. It dropped back down a few seconds later. He saw a nurse running alongside the stretcher, injecting Jack with something to put him under. Someone was speaking to him, telling him his friend was in good hands and that he would be alright.

That's what they had told him when he had tried to go see his mother while she was in surgery.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**November 17**

He was sick and tired of answering questions. Child services had shown up at some point, and the two adults were clearly getting impatient with him. They had warded off the police, finally, but had then turned around and begun asking the exact same questions, just rephrased and like they were talking to a five year old. Aster glared at them and just kept silent. They pulled the guilt card multiple times, reminding him that his friend would only want the best for the two of them and that that included "telling a trusted adult what had happened so everything would be alright and everyone could go home safely." It was around that time that Aster burst out of his silent bubble and began yelling at them, finally kicking them out after a ten minute tantrum. He slipped out a little while later of the room, getting around the social workers with a mixture of good timing and luck. It took him a few minutes, but he finally found Cook in the nurse's station at the hospital talking to a few of them. One of the nurses saw him coming and shut up immediately, turning back to her work. Cook glanced over at him.

"I'll talk," he said quietly. "But for the love of crap, _not_ with child services."

"It's law," she said.

"Not if I'm not talkin' ta a police officer," he pointed out. She smirked at his line of thought, leading him down the hallway aimlessly for a few minutes. He recognized an intersection and turned, taking them to Lachlan's room. She closed the door behind him, took off her badge, and tossed it down onto one of the cots. She folded her arms, all ears for whatever he had to say.

He sighed, leaning back against the wall. "I suppose ya tried ta get a hold of Jack's parents."

"They didn't answer, so we sent a few officers to his house to see if they were asleep. We can't find his mother or sister and the father was in a similar state as you two." She paused and stepped closer abruptly, crossing the distance between them and grabbing one of Aster's hands. She raised it to eye level, taking in the bandage wrapped around his knuckles. She met his gaze and he nodded. "Ah."

"He started it. I ended it."

"Who did it start out between?"

"Jack an' him." He tugged his hand away. "His sister's stayin' wi' a friend, mother's skippin' town. It didn't look like she was comin' back."

"Has this been going on long?"

"Physical, no. Verbal, yeah." Cook grimaced, glancing away. He knew she was wondering if that had been going on when she had shown up and tried to intimidate him into confessing. Aster let that thought simmer for a little but didn't humor her with a response. "He's gonna want ta keep this quiet."

She nodded in understanding. "From who in particular?"

"Friends, the school, doctors, police…"

"Um, everyone?"

"Just about."

"Except for you."

Aster snorted. "Ya think I found out with him meanin' for me to? I only know 'cause of his sister."

"Do they have anywhere to go?" Cook asked.

"No." She grimaced. His indifferent and cold tone didn't help ease her conscience. "I would offer to take him in, but I'm in another sinkin' boat."

"I heard… "

"Can ya get child services to back off?"

She hesitated, taking in his expression. He scowled and she sighed, stopping her evaluation and giving him the blunt truth. "If there's no one who can take him in, they're going to take him to an orphanage as soon as he wakes up."

Aster gaped at her for a few seconds. "But, wait a second-"

"If the situation was as bad as you said, I doubt his parents left a godparent in their will to take care of him."

"Can't he become emancipated?!"

"He's fifteen and is leaving an abusive household. He doesn't have much of a history other than good grades, which are overshadowed by two brushes with the law. There's nothing to show that he knows what he's doing when it comes to being on his own. He doesn't have the best attitude towards others in school. Then there's the matter of his sister. Where's she going to go? I doubt he'd leave her alone in an orphanage. Some of that can change, Aster, but a lot of its permanent."

"Ya can't take him away!" Aster yelled, much louder than he had intended. "He just started trustin' people!"

"I can't do anything. It's all up to child services."

"Can't you put in a good word for him?!"

"What, say that he was very polite when I came to arrest him?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, honestly. I can't do anything."

"But, can't- can't ya- _Something!_"

"It's out of my hands!"

"He's…"

"I'd tell his other friends. I don't know when they'll take him."

"What if someone nearby adopts him? Can't he stay?"

She shrugged. "Move fast. It might work, but paperwork for adoption usually takes a really long time. They might not let him stay just because they want him to move on from bad memories in this town."

He looked at her helplessly for a few seconds before she let go of his shoulder and walked away. The door closed behind her, and he turned his gaze to his brother on the bed. He looked so peaceful. Aster wished he had that much time to rest on his hands, but he barely had a few minutes to spare.

They weren't taking Jack. Of that he was certain. When the situation had been flipped and Aster had needed help, Jack wouldn't let him go, going so far to get Aster's trust back as to return to the most dangerous place he knew. It was time for Aster to return the favor.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: As mentioned, the tutoring was supposed to be a way for them to teach their characteristic traits (hope, wonder, dreams, memories, fun) to kids. I figured they would start with people their age for simplicity's sake, and then after suggestion, move to younger kids. If you look at the books, it wasn't like they set out immediately to help kids. After a while, it just seemed natural to do so. Not the best symbolism, but hey.

So, I just had this _totally_ awesome idea about where this story's going. Don't look at me like that. I had another idea for the plot, but this new plan overshadows the old one and will be perfect. Because I didn't know I'd be doing this, there are going to be a few rough spots with the plot and some mentioned things, but I doubt it'll be too bad. You won't notice for a while.


	16. Chapter 16

**November 17**

"He's dying, an' yer talkin' about takin' him away from the only place he's ever known! All the small securities he had, an' yer rippin' that away from him 'cause ya think he needs 'some fresh air'!"

The man and woman from child services looked at him pityingly. The woman said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Bunnymund, but you're not the authority on this matter. How long have you known him for?"

Aster snarled at the subtle accusation. "I know him better than anyone else-"

"How long?"

"An' better than any stupid foster family is ever gonna know him!"

"_How long_?"

He bit back a series of profanities before gritting out, "A month."

"And how well did you say you know him?"

"We're done," he snapped, standing up abruptly. "Ya don't have his best intentions in mind."

"And you do?"

"Neither of us do! Let's let _him_ decide what he wants ta do for a change, huh?" Aster turned and walked out of the room, letting it slam shut behind him. He didn't wait for them to follow, stalking off down the hallway to Jack's room.

It only took him a few minutes, but he stopped as soon as he opened the door. North was sitting on the edge of Jack's bed, arms folded over his chest and his legs resting against the back of a chair. Sandy was on another chair, and Ana was leaning against a wall. None of them looked happy. The main thing that looked off was the fact that Jack, despite being wrapped up in bandages all over the place, had somehow managed to get out of the room. "What the…?"

"He left," Ana said shortly.

"Hates hospitals, apparently," North added.

"How d'ya-?"

North held up a note that had been left on the bed, specifically stating so.

"Ah."

"Aster, what happened?" Ana asked. "Dr. Moon found us and told us to come, and he looked so…"

"I know." He glanced down at himself, where he still had bloodstains all over him. He needed to get changed at some point. "You should've seen the other guy." He smirked, not even bothering to hide it.

"Is he going to run for it? Do the police know they need to arrest him? Aster, should we go-"

"Ana, the only place he's gonna be runnin' for is the bathroom, 'cause he's gonna need it when he remembers Jack an' I. He's handcuffed to the bed in a room down the hall."

"Good." She folded her arms. "Now. _What happened_?"

"Can I get changed first or somethin', 'cause the blood's kinda stickin'-"

"_Now_, Aster."

"His business, not mine."

"Aster!"

"Ana."

She glared at him, but he gave her a flat look. She gave in, sighing and letting the matter drop. "Fine. Do you want one of us to stop by your house and pick up a change of clothes?"

"I've got some in Lachlan's room. Findin' a shower's gonna be the real problem. I'll be back soon, but if Jack shows up, hide him."

North frowned. "Hide him? Why? I thought you said no danger."

"Another problem. I'm only explain' it once."

Ana stood up straight and began walking towards the door, saying, "I'll go find Dr. Moon and ask him to keep-" She broke off with a half-scream half-yelp of surprise, clapping her hands over her mouth to muffle the sound. The others looked at her sharply, tensing. She looked down, hands still covering her mouth, at the hand that was gripping her ankle.

A laugh started up from under the bed, increasing in intensity. The hand began shaking with it and let her go. "_Priceless_!" Jack crowed from under the bed. "Oh, I humor myself so well…"

Ana dropped to the floor, glaring under the bed. "That was _not_ funny!"

"It was hilarious!"

"It was not!" She reached under, grabbing a hold of him and starting to drag him out. He gave a muffled curse, biting back what was surely a sound of pain. "How'd you get under there anyway in your condition?!"

"It took me a while. I waited until the police pulled you aside to talk." Ana backed up as he crawled up, using his arms to drag himself forward. As soon as his head was out, he grinned at the others and waved. "What's with the serious expressions?"'

North face-palmed. Aster glared at him, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently. "When you're done shamin' the entire town by actin' like a fool, ya mind gettin' back in bed?"

"I kinda like sitting on the floor…"

"_Get on the bed._"

"Ah, never mind. You look kinda scary with that expression." Aster glared at him until he shuffled out entirely from underneath the bed, and, with the help of Sandy and North, sat on it. From a grimace he gave and tried to hide, he probably wouldn't have been able to get up without their help. "So, what's up that's so serious and boring?"

"Serious an' borin'?"

"Well, if it's serious, it's usually pretty boring. Mind if I ignore it?"

"Considerin' it involves child services and orphanages, ya better tune a fine ear ta it!"

Jack's smile dropped from his face. "Wait, _orphanage_?"

"They're sendin' the two of ya to one if they can't find a relative or someone ta take ya in!"

"They can't take him!" Ana said, stepping closer to Aster. She glanced back at Jack hesitantly. "Can they?"

"They're gonna!"

"Ridiculous," North scoffed. "He's lived here all his life!"

Sandy scribbled down a quick drawing of a snowflake, the symbol he had associated with Jack, and pointed down at the ground. Ana began speaking, but her voice was drowned out between North's further outburst and Sandy's scribbling on his notepad.

"Quiet!" The three immediately shut up, looking at him. "Jack." The youngest focused his attention on Aster, who leveled him with the clearest and sternest gaze he could. "Ignore all of us for a second."

"That's going to be a bit hard-"

"Just do it. Be honest. D'ya want to stay here in Burgess or go with Emma to an orphanage?" Jack opened his mouth but Aster waved his answer away. "Actually think about it, ya gumby."

Jack frowned but stayed silent, turning the matter over in his mind. With as steady a voice as possible, he said, "I'll stay."

"Okay. Where's your closest relative?"

"New Hampshire."

"That's too far," Ana said, sighing.

"Is there any chance they'd move closer?" North asked.

Sandy began writing something. Aster rolled his eyes, waving his arms again to silence the three. "Jack, how badly d'ya want ta stay here?"

"Just get to the point. You're not getting rid of me, Easter Bunny."

"Shut it, Frostbite. Okay, we need a plan."

"You don't have one?!"

"Give me a break! I just heard about this ten minutes ago!"

"And yet you saunter in like you've got all the answers of the world."

"They're not going to move him out of the hospital while he's still badly injured," Ana said. "Jack, how good are your acting skills?"

"I can fake being more injured than I really am," Jack replied confidently. "Guilt tripping is easy once you get used to it. I'm stuck here for about two days."

"Don't hide under beds anymore, hm?"

"Actually, the hardest part wasn't getting under there. There were all these clumps of dust in there, and it was _so_ hard not to sneeze-" He glanced at their expressions and stopped his train of thought. "Right. Little time. Anyway."

"Can Jack stay with someone?" North asked. "My home always open!"

"My parents might adopt him anyway just for the sake of it," Ana said. "You'd think he was their biological son from how they fawn over him."

"Your parents do that to everyone!" North exclaimed.

"Which means they're open to the idea!"

"Stop fangirlin' over Jack, both of ya, and get back to the point. Ask yer parents if they'd be willin' ta take him in, an' start up paperwork as soon as possible. Tell the rest of us if it sounds like it'll take too long."

"Can do," Ana confirmed. "What's Plan B?"

"Emancipation. It's a long shot an' I don't have a lot of faith. I talked to Officer Cook about it, an' she listed off a bunch of reasons why they might not let Jack do it. This one's even less likely than the first idea."

The others exchanged glances. "Um, Plan C?" North suggested.

"I'm out of ideas. Someone else got anything?"

"Ana asked if your relative would move closer," North pointed out to Jack.

He shook his head. "I don't know them very well. I think I've seen my aunt in New Hampshire, like, twice. The only other relatives I've got over eighteen are my aunt and uncle down in Georgia, and they don't like me very much."

"Imagine that," Aster muttered. "Even worth looking into?"

"They'd tell me to stop wasting their phone bill if I called and asked."

The conversation continued for another hour before a nurse came in. Jack moaned and made himself look in much more pain than he actually was, to the approval of the others. As soon as she left, he disconnected the IV from his arm and sat up. Ana told him to put it back in, but he pointed out she'd overdosed him on medicine because of his acting and it would be safer if he just left it out. Dr. Moon came in and visited later, but they hid the IV fast enough that he didn't notice. Later, Cook came in with the child services social workers, but they were clearly unwanted and left quickly enough.

It was going to be a long next few days.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**November 18**

Ana cornered Cook at the police station in her office. Cook glanced up as she entered, but for her credit, didn't look like a cornered animal. "Miss Fae. I thought you'd probably stop by." Ana frowned, so the officer continued. "If I managed to frazzle Aster with a few simple words, then someone else was bound to stop by to see if there was something to be done. I'm sorry, but you're in the wrong place."

"No, I don't think so." She sighed, taking the seat across from the desk. "Look, I know that…we don't know him very well, considering."

"I'm not saying that, although I know the social workers are. You four know him better than anyone else."

Ana smiled. "Yeah. And I'd say we've learned a lot about him in the little time we've spent together. He's… I think he's kind of lonely. He doesn't make friends easily, and he doesn't like making them."

"I understand. If he leaves, you're afraid he won't open up again. You'll still be able to keep in contact with him, though."

"Isn't that what they're trying to avoid?" Ana pointed out. "They want to sever connections from his old life. What if his foster parents agree and don't let us talk to him?"

"I can try pushing your case, but I'm not promising how far it's going to go. I'm on your side for this matter."

Ana nodded her thanks and relaxed a bit. "So, if he wanted to get emancipated, what would we have to do?"

They talked for half an hour, and Cook laid out everything she knew. Ana took notes and absorbed the information, wheels already turning about how they could get some of this done. Cook went back over the points she had given Aster about why this idea may be a wasted effort, but Ana bypassed those for now in favor of hope. Cook added in some of her own ideas about how they could get this to work and convince the social workers.

Ana stood, smiling again, at the end of it. "Thanks, Officer Cook."

"I get the feeling you guys are going to be back." She offered her hand and Ana shook it. "I'm Wendy." With a slightly annoyed look, she brushed a strand of hair from her face and said, "Everyone calls me Windy, though."

Ana laughed. "It suits you, actually."

Cook nodded, the smile fading slightly from her face. "Before you go… How's Aster holding up?"

Ana sighed. "He…He's almost worst than Jack, actually. I think Jack didn't know what to do when the accident happened and went overboard trying to help Aster. Aster, in turn, probably needed the support more than he realized and the two got really close. So now he feels bad that this happened and he couldn't do more to prevent it." She gave a tired smile. "At least he's distracted from the loss of his family, right?"

Cook smiled sadly at him. "Small mercies, huh? How's your aunt and uncle, by the way? I heard about it when the case came in, and I thought your name sounded familiar so I looked it up again."

Ana frowned. "My uncle?"

"Aren't you living with the two of them?" Ana froze, staring at her. Cook's eyes furrowed in confusion. "I heard that after your mother had been arrested, your aunt and uncle had taken you in."

"Check the records," Ana said, struggling to keep her voice steady.

Cook sat down at her desk, turning to her computer. She typed quickly, glancing at Ana. "I just looked at this report yesterday…" She looked back at her screen. "Yeah, here's the report. See?"

Ana walked quickly around the desk. Cook pointed to the part she was looking at. All the blood ran from Ana's face and she stepped backward a few paces. Cook frowned, getting to her feet. She started to say something, but Ana whirled around and ran from the room.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Mom called the hospital," Emma said. Jack honestly couldn't have cared less if she had, but he knew his sister minded. He kept his mouth shut and just nodded. "I think that officer called her to find out what happened from her point of view and pressured her into calling the hospital, but still. She passed the phone over to Aunt Colleen, who said she'd love to take the two of us in."

Jack grinned. "You mean she said she'd love to take _you_ in."

Emma shifted. "Well, yeah, but I can persuade her to let you in, too."

"Don't worry about it, Emma. I think I'll stay here anyway."

She looked horrified. "But, Jack, Dad-"

"Is going to be arrested. I won't have to worry about him, and neither will you. I'll find someone to stay with here."

"Are you sure?"

Jack laughed slightly. "I kinda like it here now, actually. And I think you're going to need to move on. That means I can't be around."

"Don't you need to move on, too?"

He shrugged. "From what? My sister worried enough to ask someone to look out for me, and a friend cared enough to sit outside in the cold every day to make sure I was alright. Why would I even _want_ to forget that?"

She gave a small laugh. "Well… I hope you guys have fun on the New York trip."

He nodded, then paused. "Wait, how did you know about that?"

She turned pink. "You told me, remember?"

He frowned. "No, I'm pretty sure I didn't. I mean, I remember that I mentioned the actual trip, but I told you I wasn't going to go because…" She flushed brighter and he blinked in realization. "It was you! You donated the money! Where'd you get it from?"

She scuffed her feet on the ground. "I didn't think you'd make friends so fast, so I figured if you had to actually stay with a group of people you might find you can actually get along with people."

"But…_how_?"

She grinned. "Heh. Most of my friends at school have a crush on you. They donated."

Jack burst out laughing, stopping when it hurt too much. "Oh, Emma…" She gave him a chagrined look, which brought back the giggles. "I'm not sure if that's funny or odd. Maybe a mix of both."

She shrugged, and sat up further on the bed. "Speaking of odd, what is happening to your hair? It's almost pure white now!" She ran her hands through his hair, inciting a laugh from him. He ducked his head and she continued pushing strands aside so she could see the extent of how much had turned colors. "It's _really_ weird."

He glanced up at his bangs, although it hurt his neck because of the odd position his sister was tilting his head at, where none of the brown was still visible. "Yeah… No clue." He felt a little bad about lying, but he didn't want to tell her the truth either. It was probably for the best this way.

"A little." She glanced at the door. "I'm going to go see how Dad's doing. He hadn't woken up yet, last I saw. I want to know when they're arresting him, and they said as soon as the hospital says he can be released without risk of further injury."

Jack nodded, a bit of the fun dying in his eyes. As he raised his head back up, he did his best to hide it. She was too young to deal with all these problems. That was his job. If he never got along with his father again, he didn't have a problem with it. But if Emma wanted to after he had gone through rehab, it should be her choice. "Alright. See you later, then."

"Get some sleep."

"Sure."

He watched as she left, and then leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Ah, the wonder of being an older brother…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Aster continued glancing from Lachlan to Ana. His brother hadn't moved since he had left, but Aster felt a bit guilty about having left him. What if he had woken up and nobody had been there? Ana, on the other hand, was just as unresponsive, but that was because they couldn't understand her through her hysterics. North had an arm around her shoulders and was leaning his head against hers so he could hear in case she said something. Their first assumption had been that everything that had happened had just crashed down on her hard, but when they had asked she had shaken her head.

"I'll only explain it once," she managed to get out. "Let's go to Jack's room."

"Sandy already there, I think," North said. Aster nodded and stood. He winced slightly, but hid it from the others. The doctors and nurses were already out for his blood for moving around so much; he didn't need North and Ana taking up pitchforks to make him rest, too.

Sandy was indeed there when they entered the room, having returned from a short visit home. He was on the bed, sitting at Jack's side and holding his wrist. The ailing teenager could have been asleep or dead for all they could tell, but he opened his eyes when they stepped in and smiled slightly at them. The smile faded when he saw Ana. Sandy frowned, looking equally worried.

North nudged her towards a chair and she sat down. She looked around at the five of them, tears still on her cheeks, and took a deep breath. With a shaking voice and occasional pauses, she relayed to them what Cook – or Windy, as she had said to call her – had told her. The others looked shocked, exchanging glances and all reaching out to gently tap her shoulder or knee for comfort. She continued through the story, saying that she had gone home to see if it was true. Both of them had denied it, but her "mother" had gone pale white and started shaking and her "father" had developed a stutter. She had then fled here, no longer wanting to stay at home.

"If you two…" she said to Aster and Jack, out of breath from talking and crying at the same time. "If you two leave home and drop off the radar… I want to go with you. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Sandy nodded suddenly. North frowned. "Sandy, you agree?" Sandy made a 'sort of' gesture with his hand. "Wait, you mean you'd go with them? What about your parents?"

Sandy looked guilty, folding his legs for a moment and starting to write something on his pad of paper. Then he unfolded them, shifting awkwardly. He finished writing what he had started and passed it to Jack.

The hospitalized teenager sat up, frowning, as he read it. "What the… Sandy, are you positive?" Sandy nodded. "How long have you been sitting on this?" Sandy held up three fingers. "Three months?" The shorter teenager shook his head, extending his hands out to make a motion of something longer. "Three _years_?"

"What is it?" Aster asked. Jack passed him the notepad. After a glance over it, he said, "Your parents have been supporting Pitch?!"

"What?!" Ana snatched the pad away and read it. She practically tossed it to North as she stood up. "Sandy, why didn't you tell us?"

Sandy shrugged by way of explanation, trying to express a more complicated thought process but unable to. Jack guessed it, saying, "There was nothing we could do?" Sandy nodded. Ana frowned, but realized he was right and didn't say anything. "So you'd rather go with us if we have to split." Sandy nodded again.

Aster sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. "If anyone has some life-changing event that's gonna happen, could ya be considerate an' postpone it until after Christmas? The rest of us can only deal with so much at once." Sandy rolled his eyes at him with good humor. "At least we have a Plan C now."

North nodded. "If you stay in the area, I will get you supplies."

Aster started to nod, but then sighed irritably and shook his head as realism and rationality poked holes in the plan the more he considered on it. "On second thought, I'm not sure we could do it. It's not fair to ask ya to choose, an' if we stay nearby people will suspect you're involved since you're the only one who stayed behind."

"Good point," Ana said, but she still looked a little uncertain.

"Last resort," Aster compromised.

"We need more time," Jack said. "I can ask to at least stay until the end of the semester. I think they'll buy that, since it'll be easier to get paperwork for another high school schedule done if they have more time. Ana, what did Cook say?"

"A bit of what she told you, but she elaborated on some of her points. I agree with her, though, that our first two plans both have very slim chances. We need another idea."

Aster sighed. "Alright, let's go back to the drawing board."

"Wait, on another note, aren't you guys supposed to be in school?"

"Aster's injured and we convinced the school that we're your only family right now," North said. "We have excused absences."

"How long for?"

"Undecided, but the secretary looked pretty sympathetic to our cause," Ana said.

They all talked a bit more, but all of them were tired from one thing or another and they all just wanted this nightmare to be over. After checking to make sure Jack was going to be alright, and demanding Aster see a doctor (to which he refused), the group split up. Ana and Aster went to Lachlan's room and North went home, leaving Sandy and Jack behind. Jack went to sleep within seconds of the departure of his friends, and Sandy went off into a light doze without even bothering to lie down.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"_What's going on?" Jack asked, staring in horror at the scene in front of him. His sister and mother were seated at the kitchen counter. Emma was crying. His father was leaning against the sink with his arms crossed, looking smug. Pitch was standing by the refrigerator, shaking his head back and forth. What was Pitch doing in his house? _

"_Sorry," he said, "he just didn't move out of the way fast enough."_

"_I can imagine. He was always slow," his father responded. _

"_Dad!" Emma said sharply, but he ignored her. _

"_Do you have insurance to cover the damages to your car?" he asked. "I hope he didn't take out a headlight or anything."_

_Pitch shook his head. "No, just chipped a bit of paint and then went right under the car. I barely even felt the bump. Such a shame, isn't it? He used to help me out a lot with something. I guess I'm going to have to find a replacement now." He glanced over at Emma. She wasn't looking at him, thankfully, and was instead watching her tears fall onto the stained counter. _

"_Who-?" Jack started to ask, reaching out a hand towards his sister. He went right through her, but that's not what he focused on. His entire arm was a ragged mess of torn skin and muscle. It was soaked in blood as far as he could tell, and he thought he could see a bit of bone. How could he not feel that?_

_Then he looked down at the rest of himself, and it made sense. He probably had no nerves left from the damage the car had done-_

_NO. _

_NO. _

_He wasn't dead. _

_This was a nightmare. _

_He was in the hospital; he wasn't anywhere near home. His mom had left, his father wasn't even awake yet, and Emma was probably at Jamie's house._

"_I'm sorry, but I've got to run," Pitch said, shaking his head in dismay. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to file a police report. Unfortunately, it seems your son and one of his friends were into quite a bit of illegal activity. Ana Fae is being arrested anytime now, I think. And two of their friends went missing recently, having last been seen by the river. They were looking for Aster Bunnymund's body."_

"_His body?"_

"_Yes, they're uncertain yet if he jumped or if he was pushed off the bridge over the James Creek-"_

-.-.-.-.-.-

"_No_!" he yelled, bolting upright and almost knocking Sandy off the bed. His friend jumped, startled, and looked at him in worry. Jack ignored him for the moment, bending over his stomach and panting. He clenched his eyes closed, trying to wipe Pitch's words from his mind. It wasn't working. He could feel Sandy's hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, but it only helped so much.

Pitch had to be stopped. He wasn't doing what he did for the money. He just liked the fear people got of knowing someone controlled them through money or supplies. That was what powered him. Could it be shut off? And if so, if Jack wrecked his industry…would Pitch fade away? If Pitch caught on and fought back, he could serious damage to him in revenge. He could go after Emma or his friends. The damage he could do was nearly unlimited. Was it even worth the risk? But was it worth it to not do anything? Pitch was going to keep coming back if Jack didn't respond to his advances now. He was going to keep causing damage, to Emma, to Jack, to everyone he could.

Sandy was shaking him urgently now, trying to find out what was wrong. Jack shook his head, telling Sandy he was alright. Sandy didn't believe him, getting off the bed to stand at his side. He was still worried.

Jack sighed, opening his mouth to tell him everything was alright. Then he paused. He stared down at the sheets, an idea beginning to form in his head. The gears started whirring, pulling different pieces of information he had heard recently together, forming something completely new. A plan unraveled in his mind, intricate but already laid out like a map from one country to another. Difficult and long, but entirely possible if one took the right route.

Jack laughed, surprising Sandy. The idea sounded so insane, even to him, but if it worked…

If it worked, it would be well worth the trouble.

-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: And you all thought Cook was just a random OC, didn't you? Wendy Cook… Wendy… Windy… Wind. I couldn't give away that she would be important, so I didn't tell you her first name for a while or the nickname. Now I _can _tell you: She will be _very_ important to the plot. The plot, which is going to unfurl into something I'm really proud of very shortly.

At the end, I realized Jack hiding under the bed could be seen as a reference to the Bogeyman. I'd like to say I have some clever way in which it was…but I just wanted Jack to do something funny and there's not much in a hospital room that would give him something to do. But I _did_ have a bit of symbolism in here! Sandy's parents supporting Pitch is supposed to be the equivalent of the Dreamsand that Pitch turns into the Nightmares.

Also, I have not one, but _four_ other stories for RotG to work on! One's going to be an absolutely _hilarious_ story (we snicker just thinking about it) that my twin and I are working out on our shared Takanami account. Another is a -Man crossover that I don't have a lot of details for yet, since I just recently thought of the idea. I want to do a short story with Avengers, since I've got a really good line for someone to do (this option won't take me long, because it'll be the shortest). And I have a regular RotG story that I think will be pretty good about the kinds of trouble that Jack has gotten into (it'll be more serious, though) over the years, before and after being a Guardian. It won't be a series of one-shots, and I don't have the plot completely laid out yet. I don't even know how long that one will be.

So, vote! Should I just focus on this story and finish it up quickly to get to the other stories, should I try writing all of them at the same time (which will mean really long breaks between posting, so I advise against this one), or should I start writing a second story at the same time I'm doing this one?


	17. Chapter 17

**November 19**

"I can't believe we're doin' this," Aster said, grinning with eagerness and mischievousness. "Ya hit the jackpot with this plan, Frosty. What even made you think of this?" He looked up at his friend, who glanced over and exchanged a smirk with him. The two of them and Sandy were sitting on the bed, notebooks on each of their laps and a map of the town spread out between them. Jack's IV was, once again, hanging on a part of the rack since he was trying to not get overdosed with medicine. They had removed some of the bandages from him, and it had been a huge relief to see some of his injuries healing. Aster was in much better shape, although his body was now repairing itself from two separate conflicts. The nurses ranted at him constantly, but his sheer determination seemed to work better than his blood cells to heal himself.

"A bad dream and what everyone was talking about yesterday," Jack said. "The more I think about it, the more it seems like this is the most natural thing in the world we could be doing. I can't believe none of us thought of this sooner."

"Only a loon woulda thought of such an insane scheme," Aster replied.

"Wonder what that says about the people who would actually go through with the scheme, then," Jack smugly shot back. "Sandy, you got 'em distributed out evenly?" Sandy made a 'sort of' gesture and handed Jack what he was working on. Jack glanced over it, his smile becoming more and more pronounced. "That works even better when you think about where we're all going to be at…" He handed the notebook back. "Thanks." The grin faded a little. "Are you two sure about this?"

Sandy nodded firmly and Aster snorted. "Look, Frosty, does it look like we've got a whole lot to go to if we don't do something like this? The real question's whether North is goin' ta want ta be a part of it."

Jack paused. "What if… What if we don't tell him?"

Sandy frowned and exchanged glances with Aster. "What about when it's all done?" Aster said uneasily. "And we're all gone?"

"You were right. It's not fair to ask him to choose."

Aster sighed through his nose. "Cross that bridge when we come ta it. Let's ask Ana's opinion first before we do anything really stupid."

"Little late for that…"

"…Before we do anything _stupider_."

"That's better. Where are those two, anyway?"

"North convinced Ana that she needed ta face them an' figure out what exactly happened. They're at her house now, hopefully gettin' the truth. If not, they can always ask Cook later."

Jack grimaced and nodded. "Speaking of going home, I'll have to head back to my house soon to clear out everything that's mine. I'm not going back to live there again, ever."

Aster started to nod and then stopped. "Wait. Ana isn't getting along with her parents right now, you have…problems, Sandy's are working with Pitch, an' mine aren't around. This leaves North. Do you think his parents will mind if we just move in to their house for the next…oh, three or four years until we graduate high school?"

Sandy pointed to himself and shook his head. Jack nodded. "Oh yeah, your parents don't know that you know."

"Even if we stayed there, Sandy's sister hasn't left for college yet again because she's still on a break. We'd have to deal with her."

"You know what? Let's just move into North's."

"Exactly."

Sandy pointed at Jack's head and then pressed his palms together while putting his hands against the side of his head, miming sleep. He held up his hands in confusion. Jack shrugged, shifting awkwardly. "The nightmare?" Sandy nodded.

Aster frowned, looking between the two of them. "What nightmare?"

"I had one right before I got the idea. It was part of the reason I thought of it, I suppose. It's nothing, don't worry about it." He looked up from his notebook and was unsurprised to see them both looking at him with worried expressions, although he had just told them not to do that. "It's fine!"

"Considerin' some critical points of this, I think we better know exactly what ya dreamed," Aster said firmly.

"Forget about it, Aster," Jack sighed. "You can't fight all my battles."

"I told myself that," Aster replied, "but it took ya weeks to finish the last one."

Sandy rolled his eyes, knocking his notebook against both of their knees. He pointed at both of them and then made a few happy gestures, seeming to braid hair one moment and then throw flowers the next. He looked at them and shook his head.

Jack snorted. "I think he's telling us to stop acting like girls."

"That's what I'm hearin'. You started it."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"I was acting like a guy until you showed up, so it's _clearly_ your fault!"

"Odd, 'cause I was about to say the same thing!"

"I've always acted like a guy!"

"I doubt it."

"Like you'd be a good judge!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Sandy face-palmed and fell backwards off the bed, overdramatizing his exasperation at their continued antics. Jack burst out laughing, leaning his head against the wall. Aster snorted in amusement, smacking his friend with his notebook. "See, Jack, you're making Sandy run away. It's your girliness."

"That's not even a word!"

"Ya didn't deny it."

"I'm not a girl, Bunny!"

"Oh, don't even go there!"

"I just did."

Sandy laughed soundlessly on the floor, crawling back up onto the bed after a few seconds. He laughed even harder when the notebooks went from being academic tools to spears to throw at each other. He tried to stop his from being a weapon, but Jack snatched it up before he could get to it and threw it at Aster. The Australian dodged and it hit the wall behind him next to the door. Aster threw his own notebook at Jack, who returned fire with the same notebook and a pillow. Sandy ducked the pillow, which went way off course, while Aster caught the notebook out of the air.

He threw it at his friend, who had no space to dodge, then jumped off the bed and forward, leaning over Jack. "Come on, Sandy!" he crowed, tickling the injured teenager. "We've got 'im now!"

Jack laughed, reaching behind himself and shoved the pillow in Aster's face. "I still have more ammo!"

"I have a _chair_!"

"What the- That's not fair!"

Dr. Moon peeked in, eyebrow raised. Jack was off the bed, using it as a barricade between him and his friend. Sandy was at the foot of the piece of furniture, glancing between the two with a grin on his face, clearly enjoying being a spectator but having no interest in taking part in the battle. The doctor noticed the notebook that had fallen beside the door and picked it up, flipping through the pages curiously. It didn't take him long to come to what Sandy had just been writing.

Jack glanced over, noticing the door was open, and saw Dr. Moon with the notebook in hand. The fun drained out of his face and he jumped forward, hand outstretched to snatch the notebook away. "No, that's not-!"

Aster turned to see what he was looking at and dropped the chair in surprise. "Wait, Dr. Moon, don't!"

Sandy whipped around, surprised that someone had entered without him noticing. He shook his head and waved his hands around, trying to emphasize the importance of the doctor putting down the notebook.

"Martyrs."

The three stopped, exchanging glances. "Um, sorry?" Jack said.

"You've clearly got a point to make," Dr. Moon said, closing the notebook and waving it at them. "That or you've got a little too much free time on your hands. Your cause will only work as long as it's in the media. The newspapers will print the story once and then it will be over. People won't think about it again. It's a noble cause, but it's an idea, not a story. The newspapers can't print ideas. Now, if you had _martyrs_… That would be a story of the year, wouldn't it? It'd run for ages."

Jack grinned. "You know, I've got the perfect place for some martyrs in the plan."

Dr. Moon smiled, lobbing the notebook onto the bed. "Good luck." He turned to walk away.

"Wait, doctor!" The man paused. "Don't you have to…uh…report this?"

"Ever heard of patient confidentiality?"

"Um, yeah?"

"That falls under this."

"I don't think the people who wrote that paperwork were planning for it to be used like this-"

Dr. Moon left.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Ana, we thought you would be upset and we didn't want you to have to worry about it," her aunt said gently. "It's not a very pleasant story."

"Couldn't you have let me decide whether I wanted to hear it or not?" Ana demanded, fists shoved in her pockets. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen while her two relatives were standing inside, watching her like she was a deer that might flee at any moment. North was standing behind her, watching the exchange. "What happened?"

"Your father left when you were very young and your mother took you on the road. Not everything she did was very…legal. If you want any more details than that, you need to go to the police station and ask for the report. When they finally arrested her, you were given to your nearest relative." She put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "We were closest and your uncle is your mother's brother. I married him just a few years before all this happened. We talked about it, and we thought it would be safer if you didn't know just yet. We were planning to tell you, but it just… The opportunity never arose. And you were so happy…"

"So you lied and kept my past from me?! What if I had wanted to meet her?!"

"What if you had turned into her?" her aunt replied. "We didn't want that."

"So not only do you feel the need to lie to me, it's because you have no faith in me!"

"Ana!"

"I'm making my own decisions now, and you're going to have to deal with it if I just don't want to stay here any longer," she snapped. "Do you want me to pack now or later?"

"Ana!"

"_Well_?"

"Think this through!"

"What do you think I've been doing since I heard about the truth? Why would I want to stay here if you're never going to stop treating me like a child who can't do anything for herself? North's parents agreed they'll let me stay there."

"Ana…" Her aunt and uncle exchanged a look. Her uncle continued, "Leave it here for now. We'll… Let us get used to this, alright? Would you mind staying around for a little while longer so we can come to an agreement about all this?"

Ana looked like she was about to dispute that and come up with a further argument, but she backed off for now. "Fine. If you don't mind, two of our friends are in the hospital and they need more help than you do right now. We're going back to visit them now, so you'll excuse me if I don't stick around for a few more minutes to have tea and cookies."

"But you'll be back, right?"

She gave them a look. "Yeah, I'm going to have to grab my clothes before I move."

They flinched, but she ignored the movement and turned away from them. North walked with her out the door.

-.-.-.-.-.-

**December 1**

Over the last few days, things had been coming together pretty well. The five of them had been all but adopted by North's parents and had made good use of the living room. They had been sleeping on the floor and couches, having been told by the hospital staff that they could no longer sleep in the middle of Lachlan's room any longer. They still visited every day after school, and the visits had been a lot more energetic and excited ever since they had begun planning. Dr. Moon was helping them a lot more than they had thought he would, stopping by daily to listen to their ideas and occasionally give his own input.

They had talked to Ana about the plan, and she had agreed that they should let North make his own decision. The Russian had seemed almost confused as to what the fuss was all about, saying that of course he would love to help with their plan, no matter what the results of it might turn out to be. The others had been excited about his loyalty, but it was a wake-up call that there was no turning back as long as they were all set on the idea. They all had a lot to lose from doing it, but it could be that they had even more to lose if they didn't.

Jack was walking without a limp and hadn't lost any of his good humor. Aster had healed days ago, but he had been a lot better off when it came to the extent of his injuries. His hip was no longer a problem, despite the extra strain he had put on it when he had half-dragged Jack away from home. Ana's aunt and uncle were trying to mend the bond Ana had severed, but she would have none of it and was ignoring them. The others supported her as much as possible, but let her make her own decisions about how to handle the situation. True to her word, she had returned home for a while to clean out a bit of her room and take some clothes over to North's. As it had been for the last few months, Sandy's parents were still unaware that he knew how involved they were with Pitch. He had been subtly looking into that a little more, but hadn't learned a whole lot yet.

Aster's legal guardians had left town a week ago. They had finished handling a lot of the legalities and sold a lot of the property and possessions after discussing it with Aster. Anything that had been specifically left in a will had been sent to that person already, and anything that was Lachlan's was being kept in a storage unit. Despite the disagreements of his friends, Aster had sold most of what had been his or simply given it away. The funeral of his parents had been pushed back in the hope that Lachlan would wake up soon, but the coroner was routinely reminding the relatives of his parents that the funeral needed to be soon.

Jack's father had woken up a day after their plan had started coming together. He had been ranting and raving as soon as the police had told him why he was handcuffed to the bed. He had vehemently denied doing anything to his son, but there was overwhelming evidence to convict him and the matter that his wife had left and both children refused to visit him once he was awake. Jack was of the opinion that his father honestly didn't remember considering all the blackouts he had had. He had already been taken to the station and was going to court soon. Cook said she didn't think Jack was even going to have to show up for the case to testify, although Aster might have to just so the jury could know why Jack's father looked like such a mess too.

That brought them to where the five were standing now. Since both his parents were elsewhere and would be for a long time, and Emma was staying at Jamie's, Jack was the only one who would be living at the home. He clearly wasn't going to do that, so he was going to clean out the house. The property would be sold soon with any luck. Jack's father had already stated he wouldn't return there when he got out of prison.

It was after school and their backpacks were leaning against the wall by the front door. Aster and Jack had already been inside recently, but had forgotten how much of a mess it looked like. The police had cleaned up a little, just because they had taken some bits of evidence with them, but otherwise it looked even worse than normal. There were glass and bowl shards scattered on the floor of the kitchen. There were a few splatters of blood around them, but most of the mess in the kitchen was hidden from view by the wall and counter. In the living room, right in front of their eyes, was probably the worst part. There were several patches of blood staining the carpet and furniture. The walls had a few splashes and handprints. It looked like something out of a horror movie.

Jack kicked off his shoes and started to walk in, nonchalant as could be. He stopped when he realized no one else was moving and glanced behind him. "Um, I forgot it looked this bad. It really wasn't, there were just three of us, er, flailing…blood…around…"

Aster gave him a look. "You're not helping."

"Sorry. Are you guys sure you want to do this? It's going to be a mess."

"It's alright. I don't want you to have to do this by yourself," Ana said quietly. "Where do you want us to start?"

"Emma said she's going to stop by sometime this afternoon to start working on her room so we don't need to worry about that. My parents' room isn't something we need to think about either, since my mom basically said trash everything that's hers and my dad's things are being sent to storage. Everything else can just be put away. I'll go find some boxes we can put stuff into." He left, trotting up to the second floor.

The others exchanged glances as soon as he left. "Keep him upstairs," North said quietly. "Sandy, you make sure he stays there. We will clean up everything down here."

"Aster, you never told us exactly what happened," Ana said, looking over the bloodstains again.

"And I'm never goin' ta. Jack's story, not mine."

"I don't want it to seem like we're pushing it."

"It's over. Let's just let him forget about it." Aster gave a comforting smile. "I know this seems really bad, but he's right. This isn't all his. Quite a bit of it's from his father, too. An' I know this didn't happen often."

"Only the second time," Jack said from the top of the stairs. Aster didn't flinch at Jack having caught the tail end of their conversation. "Here, catch!" He tilted the first of the cardboard boxes downwards, using the stairs as a ramp. He let go and it slid to the bottom. The rest went down the same way. "You figure out who's working where?" He crouched at the top of the stairs, tilting his head slightly.

"You an' Sandy are workin' upstairs," Aster called. "Unless there's a lot more to pack away up there than down here."

"Nah, we only need two people up here." He stood up. "The broom and mop are down there in a closet, but most of the other cleaning stuff is up here. We can't be normal and keep it all in one place, oh no…"

Twenty minutes later found them all working in somewhat unison. Ana was packing up anything in the kitchen shelves, having already swept up the shards littering the ground. Aster was attacking any other room he could find downstairs, but most of it only took him a few minutes. They were more focused on packing than renovation, so it wasn't much of a fight to get it all cleared away. They had all the windows open despite the freezing temperatures because of the products North was using to clean up some of the stains. It wouldn't have been good to accidentally die from asphyxiation.

Upstairs, Jack and Sandy were sorting through the monster that was his room. Sandy had laughed when he had seen the mess, and Jack had simply replied that most of it wasn't his and that the rest of the family just used his room as another storage area because he so rarely used it except to sleep. Even then, sometimes he just stayed on the couch.

Jack packed up his clothes and a few miscellaneous objects while Sandy went through some of the piles left by his courteous family members. Jack began helping with that, and then started transferring all their boxes down the stairs. Sandy finished up the piles and began moving onto drawers. Downstairs, the rooms all smelled like cleaning detergent but a lot of the blood was gone. Ana had finished the kitchen and was helping North. Most of their boxes had been moved to the front of the house as well.

"So, where's this stuff all going?" Aster asked from the kitchen.

Jack looked at him blankly for a moment and then shrugged. "I dunno."

Aster groaned and left, throwing up his hands in exasperation. Ana laughed and suggested, "You could take it to a resale shop or something."

"Hey, I'm not moving it. We're just packing it up for the guys who have to sell the house."

North was laughing as Jack left, padding up the stairs once more. It felt good to have his leg back to its full mobility. Luckily, his father hadn't done too much damage to it. If he had, Jack would have been more pissed off than hurt by it, but still. It also felt good to be moving out because he had finally bested his father, but some would consider that smug.

He nudged open the door to his room again, barely glancing at Sandy as he tossed a few more things together into another box. He wasn't totally sure where all these boxes were coming from, but there were loads of them in the closet. A few minutes passed when he realized he was working alone. He glanced over at Sandy. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

His friend didn't even twitch. He had his back to him, head down like he was looking at something. Jack set down the box he had been about to carry out, hearing it thump to the ground. He looked at the back of his friend, frowning in confusion. "Sandy?" It was only when he was right beside him that Sandy finally turned, meeting Jack's gaze with a mix of hurt and concern. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand.

Jack took it from him gently, turning it over so he could see what it was.

"_I'm sorry to whoever finds this note. Just know that this was going to happen no matter what."_

Jack jerked in surprise, almost dropping it. He clenched the note harder, as if wishing that if he could keep it to himself now if it would prevent anything that had already happened, like his friend seeing it. "I forgot I put it away before my father realized I was home," Jack said weakly after a few seconds. "Look, Sandy-"

Sandy cut him off, trying to convey a message across to Jack. The meaning was lost because his movements were so erratic and frantic from worry. Jack sighed silently. He was in for a long conversation and lecture, he just knew it.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

"Hey, North's parents just called an' they're wonderin' about-" He stopped, looking at Jack's very pale expression and Sandy's flushed face. "…You two havin' a lover's quarrel or somethin'?" He gave them each another look and noticed the paper in Jack's hand. "What's that?"

Sandy reached forward and snatched the note from Jack, who yelped slightly and tried to grab it back, before crumpling it up and throwing it out the open window in a smooth movement. Jack paused in sudden relief that Sandy hadn't given it to Aster. The Australian, for his part, looked bewildered about what was going on.

"…O…kay… Um, North's parents are wonderin' if ya'd like pizza when we get back to their house?" Aster said slowly.

"Pizza's good," Jack said, keeping his voice as normal as possible. Aster glanced at Sandy, who still looked like a mess of emotions but nodded anyway. Aster gave them each one more look and then left, shaking his head in confusion. "Thanks, Sandy."

He was rewarded with a sudden hug, Sandy gripping him tightly around the torso. "Sorry, little guy," Jack said softly, wrapping his arms around his friend. "Didn't mean for you to see that."

-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: The fluff at the beginning was for **Suicide in a Bottle**_, _whose request I finally got around to writing. I meant to, I promise! There was just too much angst to fit it in. Did I do it justice? If not, I'll try again. There will be plenty of time for it with what I have planned.

I think you can figure out a little of what the plan is…but how much of it am I fooling you with into believing one thing, and how much is actually what I'm planning? Basically, let me know what you think is going on. I want to know how right (or wrong) you are.

There was originally a longer scene between Sandy and Jack about how Sandy reacted, but I decided that I wasn't going to be able to write that perfectly and that it was better just left to the imagination. Yes, the others will be told eventually. Just not very soon.

On another note, huge round of applause to **Zephyrus Genesis**! We've been going back and forth for a while on things about the story. I now know that my upcoming plot at least makes a little sense, and I know that the plot further in the future is going to be absolutely epic. You are going to LOVE where this story is going. There's plenty of angst, but the best part is, you definitely are not expecting _any_ of it.


	18. Chapter 18

**December 18**

"What do you guys think?" Ana asked, leaning against the railing in front of them. Sandy had his hands up, feeling the breeze coming in from the water and North was looking at the waves crashing against the side of their ferry. Jack had long since wandered away, having never been out of Burgess before and had now rendered completely speechless for minutes on end. He was somewhere else on the ferry, and they had just given up trying to keep track of him. It was their third day on the New York trip, and a huge relief to all of them. The planning had gone on for weeks, and this was a great way for them to just let it all slide off their shoulders for the moment.

"I think I'm gonna be seasick," Aster muttered, both hands pressed over his mouth. His face was slowly turning green. "'Scuse me," he said, turning to go off the deck of the ferry and back inside

Sandy smirked slightly in amusement, but the expression faded into a peaceful one seconds later. True to his word, he had remained silent about the matter he had discussed with Jack. He opened his eyes and grinned, pointing out a flock of geese on the waters of the Hudson Bay. North nodded, spotting them. "You wouldn't even know we were out here if you judged the wildlife," he said. "They ignore us entirely."

"Unless we have food," Ana corrected.

"Sandy, is she still at the store?" Ana asked, referring to his sister. Sandy checked his phone and tilted it to her, showing that he had no new messages. He nodded. "I guess she hasn't even noticed we're gone yet, either. How long until she does?" He shrugged and used two fingers to mime walking in the direction of the shore and then pointed in the direction of where they had left her. "Not until we get back and tell her?" Sandy smiled and nodded.

"We are docking in three minutes," North pointed out. "Should someone find Jack?"

Ana looked around but didn't see him anywhere nearby. She groaned. "We should attach a leash to him or something to stop him from wandering off. I didn't think he'd be this surprised by everything. Let's at least put a tracker on him. Or make him wear something neon so he's easy to spot. Here, you two go find Aster inside. I'll meet you there."

She split up from them, scouring the boat for their lost friend. There were too many other tourists to make it very easy to search, but she eventually found him on the second level, looking back at the city. She tapped his shoulder and gestured for him to come with her. He grinned back and followed. She tried not to roll her eyes at his over-eagerness, but it was a little hard not to in the face of his puppy-like charm. "We're about to dock?"

"Any minute now," she replied, wondering how he hadn't noticed that when he could clearly see the distance from the ferry to the docks from this view. "Enjoying the trip?"

"This is awesome!"

Ana laughed. "We'll go on a road trip at some point and show you some other cool spots, okay?"

"Yeah." He was barely paying attention to her words, it seemed, turning around every few seconds to look at another view. "Oh man, I wish I had done something like this sooner…"

"We'll do it again, just come on down to the lower deck so we can get off and do something else!" Ana said, practically dragging him down the stairs. He laughed and followed. They met the other three in the cabin area and stayed there until they felt the ferry stop. It took little convincing to get Aster off as fast as he could go, to the other's amusement. He looked incredibly relieved to have his feet back on stable footing when he was on solid ground.

"Hey, while we're around the water, should we go see about our delivery system?" Aster said when they joined him, having been a few steps ahead because the others hadn't been running off. "I'll bet we'll find one either along here or up on the rooftops, but here's a safer bet."

"And less likely to get us arrested," North added in. "Let's ask the captain of the ferry. I bet he will know if there is someone like that around here." He left, heading back on board. The others waited for him to return, although Jack was no longer paying attention again. North came back a little later, smiling and nodding. "There's one nearby. Just a few blocks south."

"Let's go!"

They followed Ana, although she had less of an idea about where they were going than North did. "Jack, focus!" North said, snapping his fingers in front of his friend's face. Jack glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "Stop that! Now, onto your plan. Should we see about renting a few and then we will return them later, or should we buy a few?"

"Well, we don't have a clear idea about when we'll be able to get them back," Jack pointed out. "But I doubt we have enough money between the five of us to buy one, either. Unless we include Sandy's sister, who seems to have emptied her entire bank account for a shopping trip. We'll need training ourselves to handle them. I think one or two of us is going to need to come back to retrieve them."

"We don't have long," Aster said grimly. "Do ya think we should give a false reason about why we need some?"

"If we don't, he won't understand the urgency." Jack paused thoughtfully.

Sandy waved his hands for a second to get their attention. He pointed to Jack and then south. He repeated the gestures while they looked at him in confusion.

"Jack's going…" Ana began and Sandy nodded as she started catching on. "Um, going south?"

"Oh!" North said. "After winter break, Jack is moving south to live with foster family! We're afraid they won't let us talk to him once he goes!"

"Guilt tripping and pulling the sympathy card usually works," Jack agreed. "I like it."

"Only problem will be if ya don't wipe that ridiculous grin off yer face, he'll never buy it," Aster muttered irritably, jabbing Jack in the ribs with his elbow. "Do some of that actin' ya pulled off in the hospital an' we should be good ta go. Any other details we can drop in?"

"None that I can think of, but this should be fine," Ana said. "If we're going to need training, I think we might end up spending our entire trip here. If Sandy's sister stays in the store, no one will even notice. Is that alright with everyone if we stay here?"

"Hey, if we pull this off, we can always come back," Jack pointed out.

"Um, guys…?" Ana said slowly. "How are we going to get them back home?"

They paused, exchanging glances as realization sunk in. "We'll, um, figure something out with whoever runs the place, right? What's it called?"

"Nightlight," North said. "The captain warned me that he doesn't like tourists who are just coming to look."

"Good thing we're coming to buy," Jack muttered. He glanced back at the docks and began walking backwards, once more grinning as he took in the sight. "Have you guys ever seen anything like this? I mean, it's pretty polluted, but there's a lot more people so that makes sense and it's pretty good considering, but it still looks really awesome when you take in the sight and-"

"Jack, yer not makin' any sense an' later when yet older an' we're reminiscin', this'll be one of the most embarrassin' moments a yer life. Might as well stop before you make it even worse."

Jack scowled but stopped talking. He turned back around and squinted ahead. "Hey, is that it?"

"Looks like," Ana affirmed. "Let's go see if he's willing to bargain."

BREAKBREAKBREAK

The small shack was dusty and dark. They exchanged glances, not even sure the place wasn't open. There was no open or closed sign, and the only way they knew they were in the right place was because of the large lettering on the door Jack had spotted that said "NIGHTLIGHT". They could hear fluttering coming from inside, and someone shuffling around.

"Excuse me?" Ana called out. "Hello?"

"Tourists," someone inside spat out, "you're not welcome here. I've got better things to do than give demonstrations."

"Well, we're not lookin' fer one, so I guess we're in the right place," Aster said. "D'ya mind wastin' a few minutes of yer precious time an' talkin' ta us?"

The others winced at his brusqueness and the person inside paused whatever they were doing. He came out into the light a few seconds later, wiping dirt off his hands and onto a towel. He was probably in his mid-fifties with wild grey hair, clearly not around people enough to care one bit about how he looked. His clothes were torn in some places and very old, stained in multiple areas. He dropped the towel on a shelf and flipped on a light so they could see.

Shelves lined the small room, containing many small objects relating to the work the man did. A table was shoved to one side, containing a few more rags and stacks of little canisters. Long rolls of paper only a few inches wide were arranged in a tower on the floor by the table. The entire place should have been swept years ago and some spider webs were hanging from the ceiling. The only dusting the place got was when things were moved around, it seemed.

"And what would five teenagers like yourself need with a place like this? You've got your MyFace accounts and twexting on your phones to keep you occupied, don'tcha?"

It took them a few seconds to realize he was talking about the social networks and texting, and had just badly mauled the words. Ana shook her head and said, "They're not going to help us soon."

"Oh? Someone going out on a camping trip with no SciFi or cellular service?"

Again, it took them a minute to realize he meant WiFi. "No, um…" Ana trailed off, looking at Jack.

Time for guilt tripping. Jack sighed, pulling on his best mask for lying, and said, "It's kind of been one of those years that just goes downhill, y'know?"

"No," the man said shortly but gestured for him to continue.

"I haven't been on good relations with my sister for a while. She's leaving now anyway to go stay with our aunt and uncle. The rest of my family doesn't like me, so I'm basically screwed and have to go to foster care. My mother left a few weeks ago because my father got extremely violent and she doesn't appear to be coming back. And my father was arrested as soon as he got out of the hospital, which was a week after I was released." Despite being in the middle of guilt tripping, Jack shared a satisfied look with Aster. "The two of us had kind of…beaten each other. I'm probably going to be stuck in foster care for years until I turn an adult because I'm too old for anyone to really go through the trouble of adopting."

"You can move past the part where you give me a sob story and just tell me why you need my services."

"For the record, ya don't really look like ya get much business. Is this yer usual method fer sealin' the deal? 'Cause if so, I think I can see where yer problem is." Aster and the old man exchanged glares, but thankfully the group wasn't kicked out instantly.

"Child services is basically telling me that they're going to do everything they can to stop me from contacting anyone from my old life. They think I need to 'move on'," Jack said with exasperation, using air quotes. "If that's the case, we're not going to be able to use anything that they can track. That rules out phones and email."

"And you instantly thought…this?" the man said with exasperation, gesturing to his workplace.

"We went through a lot of different ideas," North said. "At a certain point, this seemed to be best idea. A doctor suggested it when he heard we were coming here."

The old man groaned, burying his face in his hand for a moment. "Oh, I should have known. You're from Burgess. Moon called a few days ago to ask about something like… Let me guess, you need my friends to go between wherever the white head there ends up and where the rest of you are?"

"Yeah," Jack said, keeping a cool temperament despite being referred to as 'the white head there'. "Basically. Are you the only one out here or something?"

"Yes," he grumbled under his breath. "The only one who could pull off something like this. And Moon knows that, the jerk."

"How much did he tell you?"

"Well, he didn't give some bundle of crap like you just gave me as to what you needed me for," he grumbled. "Seriously? Did you have to go that far?"

"Oh, trust me," Jack said darkly, "we kept it PG rated in comparison to what actually happened. That's why we want this to work so badly. I don't want to go to an orphanage."

The old man grunted. "Alright, alright. I'll leave in a few days and go to Burgess to scope out the area and then I'll be back again later to sort it out permanently. I am going to want to stay with you for a while to make sure nothing goes wrong the first few times you do it and so I can fix anything that might be causing trouble. Well, actually, I won't be able to leave here for very long…" He thought about it for a moment, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. "I know a friend who can take care of things while I'm gone. I'll figure it out."

"Have you ever done something like this before?" North asked.

He shrugged. "Once or twice. It's different every time. How long are you here in New York?"

"We're here on a field trip over winter break," Ana said. "We have a week. Once we get back home, we'll only have a few days before this has to be ready. Jack's leaving for the orphanage before the next semester starts."

"Cutting it a little close, aren't we?" the man said, rolling his eyes. "Don't get me wrong, I can do it. It's the short notice I don't appreciate. Don't worry about payment. I'll put it on Manny's tab."

"Manny?" Ana murmured in confusion.

"Dr. Moon. We were kids together, and whenever my friends and I got injured, he was always 'the man' to go to for medical treatment."

"Speaking of names, you are…?"

"Alexander Ombric. If we've got less than two weeks, we better get started now. Forget the socializing. Someone expecting you back at the hotel?"

"We'll go pick her up from wherever we left her in the shopping mall later," Ana said. "She doesn't mind."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**December 22**

They returned to Nightlight every day for the rest of the trip. Sandy's sister was completely oblivious to them leaving and had been so happy that they repeatedly went back to the store day after day. A few times it seemed like she knew they weren't staying with her, but if she cared, she certainly didn't show it. After making sure she was deeply engaged in shopping, they would leave and head down to the docks. Ombric was always moving before they got there, planning what he was going to teach them that day. They had already learned a lot and he seemed proud and satisfied that they would be done by the time the five of them had to return home.

For once, he wasn't already moving around excitedly when they walked through the front door. He was sitting on the edge of the table, a few of the miscellaneous objects brushed aside to leave a spot for him. He was clearly waiting for them, though, if his expression was anything to judge by. They exchanged glances, not sure if they were in trouble or not.

"So. You have a day left in your trip here and you're doing pretty well with the training. Let's hear the _real_ story now."

"Awkward," Jack muttered when no one said anything immediately.

"For you," Ombric replied. "I could do this all day. You all seem like pretty headstrong folk, so I can't help but think that none of you would let your friend get shipped off to an orphanage or that he would willingly leave. Manny's vouching for you, so I'm guessing this is pretty important all the same. He gave me a similar story, so unless you had that planned, it's not all total crap."

"It's… We'd have to tell you the entire plan we've got," Ana said carefully.

"Oh, do tell. We've got time." He raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for one of them to share the secret. None of them spoke, so he looked at Jack. "Your story, you tell it."

"I used to work with a guy in town who runs all the drugs around," he said, not missing a beat.

"Damn, your story gets worse and worse."

"It's pretty impressive, huh?" Jack said with a snort. "Anyway, the main reason I did that was because I was getting information on him the whole time." He glanced at the other four. "You guys don't actually know some of this, so you might want to pay attention too. I kept notes on everything he did and gathered a large amount of proof. I coded a lot of it and pretended I was taking notes on books I had rented from the library."

Aster stopped him. "Wait, _that's_ why ya have all those damn binders?!"

"Of course," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe you thought I would be able to sit still to go through all that for anything short of a very good reason."

"How do you decode it?" Ana asked. Ombric looked a little annoyed that they had gotten off track, but seemed to realize that Jack was going to avoid talking about this again.

"Anything that's different from the books at school," Jack said. "In those paragraphs, there are spelling errors. Math was fun because I literally drew out maps of Pitch's supply and where it came from and went on graphs."

When none of Jack's friends spoke up again, Ombric asked, "What does this have to do with anything?"

"Well, see, it's still illegal to be involved in what the guy was doing even if I was gathering evidence against him and others," Jack explained. "So now my options are prison or an orphanage. We need to find a way to get my testimony to the police about what happened, and we need to get the binders there as well. I can't give both at the same time or I'll be arrested. We have a ridiculously complicated escape plan."

"So the five of you are going to get the bad guys arrested, save your friend from getting caught or put in an orphanage, and flee town together like it's the old West or something?" Ombric said doubtfully.

The five of them exchanged smirks. "Not exactly," Aster said.

-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: A lot of you seemed to have guessed that they're going to run away. I'll admit, I was leading you on there to make you believe that. I'm not saying that's false. But as Aster said… Not exactly. *smirks*

And does anyone even know (or care) what Jack's father's name is? I mentioned it. Don't go back looking for it if you don't know, because I think I'm going to change it.


	19. Chapter 19

**December 24**

The return trip from New York had been uneventful. Ana had stopped moving things out of her home, finally listening to the pleas of her two family members to wait. They were no longer staying in North's living room. By common consent, they had decided to cut off relations with their parents to protect them from harm or the retaliation that was sure to come. For lack of a better place, they were currently waiting at Jack's home for the events to unfold. Tensions and excitement were high, climbing steadily. It was time for this all to be over so they could move on. There was a better life up ahead, right in arm's reach.

North had told his parents about the mess his friends were in and that he was spending Christmas Eve with them to make sure everything was going to be alright. They had been very understanding, encouraging him to go help his friends. North had smiled and thanked them, although they weren't sure what for.

Moments of innocence are moments of wonder in the eyes of a parent.

Aster spent his last day with his brother, talking to him quietly and rubbing his hand. The nurses had seen something in his expression that stopped them from asking any questions, despite their questions over his odd behavior and the stark lack of any of his friends being with him. Dr. Moon avoided the room, knowing Aster wouldn't want to see anyone related to what was going to happen. At the end of the day, he kissed his brother on the forehead and left.

Goodbyes are hardest when one side isn't willing to let go.

Ana found Baby Tooth stowing away in her backpack when she sat down on the couch at Jack's house. Her cat climbed onto her lap, meowing in distress. Ana tried to take her home, but Baby Tooth followed her back to Jack's every time, clearly feeling her owner's anxiety. The cat almost seemed to be crying the tears Ana couldn't. The teenager finally gave in, curling up on the couch and holding Baby Tooth. The cat nuzzled her neck and then settled in against her chest.

Family includes those who know you better than yourself and never let go.

Sandy sat on his sister's bed, listening to her babble about the incredible trip they had just returned from. She had taken multiple suitcases on the trip and was now unpacking all the clothes she had bought. Multiple times, she stopped the flow of information from her mouth to ask if any of Sandy's friends would ever like to do that again. Sandy nodded, for once thankful he didn't have a voice. He wouldn't have been able to stop himself from telling her that they would never be able to see her again.

Protecting someone almost never means saving yourself too.

Jack walked around the forest, enjoying the solitude. He was so used to it. The staff that had saved his life was clutched tightly by his side, a steady support if he would ever need it. He stopped his wanderings for a few minutes to go to the river. Suicide wasn't an option he could ever consider again. He owed too much to others to move on without them. The river had eventually succumbed to the freezing temperatures and snow was now building along its banks. The surface was a layer of hard ice. He lowered himself down onto it from the ground above, crouching low for a second. His head was blank of all the emotions that had been running rampant through it earlier, and he raised the staff high above his head. With a crack, he slammed it down against the ice. A few tiny shards split off and sprayed up into the air, but the ice held firm. He smiled.

It's hard to fall when you have strong supports beneath you.

Grab onto the ones close to you when you jump into the rabbit hole, because you may never see them again if you don't.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Jack found himself outside of the Bennett house without even having stopped to think about going to see Emma. There was no sign of anyone home, so it didn't feel nearly as weird as it could have when he sat down against the light pole by the street, facing the home. Maybe they had gone out to dinner and taken Emma with them. The social workers had decided she would leave Burgess after Christmas but before the new semester started up for school. That way the two Frost children could go their different ways at the same time.

It could be good that he wasn't going to see her before he had to leave. He wasn't sure how he would be able to hide things from her again. It had been easier last time when they hadn't known each other so well. Things were different now that they could have a conversation long than two minutes with each other about something enjoyable.

He knew the others were saying goodbye to their family in their own subtle ways. He had left the house when he saw Ana asleep on the couch with Baby Tooth in her arms. She didn't want to talk to her aunt or uncle, he knew, because she was afraid of giving something away. It was the safe thing to do for them and her, but it must have still hurt a lot. Maybe he and Aster were the luckiest because they didn't have to worry about anyone getting hurt.

He still had trouble believing they were willing to do this for him. They had only known each other for a few months. It wasn't all about him now, though, was it? Aster had to go somewhere, and Ana was going to be a mess if her aunt and uncle were constantly vying for her attention. The stress on Sandy must have been unimaginable for him to know what his parents had been doing. And Pitch… He had to be stopped. They were all leaving home soon anyway. Dr. Moon had been right, there had to be a martyr to take someone out effectively. One of them could easily do it alone, but the others all recognized it would be a lonely life to leave. Doing it together was what they wanted to do instead.

"I thought you would come here eventually," Pitch said from behind. Jack barely twitched. "They went to see a movie and have dinner. The movie ends at eight, so they'll be back around eight thirty."

"Some would call your actions stalking," Jack said, although he doubted Pitch cared in the slightest.

"I know."

"This better not be another recruitment attempt."

"No. You kept information somewhere on everything you saw while working with me, didn't you?" Pitch said, walking around so he was facing Jack. Since the freshman was on the ground, the senior ended up towering over him. "Of course you did. If something went wrong, you had to have proof. I want that information. All the copies of it, too."

"I kept it all in my head."

"You're a liar."

"A good one, too. Come back when you've got a better deal for handing over that information. You're not bullying me into it, that's for sure."

Pitch crouched down in front of him, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I think your friends would be a bit disappointed that you're even open for negotiations about this, don't you think?"

"Your persuasion techniques are rather confusing. Aren't you trying to convince me to do a trade?"

"I'm not going to _convince _you, I'm going to _make _you." He pulled out a folded up piece of paper from his pocket. He looked over it one more time, quirking up an eyebrow as he did so. "I didn't really think you had suicide in you, buddy." Jack's eyes widened as he realized what the note was, and tried to snatch it out of Pitch's hands, growling as he did so. Pitch stepped back, rising back up to his full height at the same time Jack jumped up to his feet, moving towards Pitch. The senior held the note up out of his reach. "Ah ah, hold on. One of you against many of us. You think I came alone?" Jack retreated a step, not even bothering to glance down the street to see if Pitch had anyone with him. Pitch wasn't stupid enough to threaten Jack alone. "Lesson learned, kids. Don't leave your suicide notes lying around. Oh, imagine how upset Bunnymund would be to know he almost lost his entire family and his closest friend in the course of one month. That's almost a record!"

"Shut up," Jack snapped, hands clenching and unclenching by his side. "How did you find that?"

"I was looking around outside your house for incriminating evidence," Pitch said honestly, as if that weren't weird or anything. He held up the note again as if it were a prize. "I didn't even have to go _inside_!"

Jack gritted his teeth together. "Give that back."

"No. Listen. You give me the information and all the copies you made of it, and I won't give this note to Ana. Aster would be pissed if I gave it to him, but Ana… She would sympathize with you, wouldn't she? She'd hide it from the others. Of course, it would begin eating at her from the inside about whether you would really be okay or not… Eventually the others would know when she had to ask them if they thought you were doing okay. None of them would ever see you the same again."

"Give me the note now, damn it, and I'll get your information."

"I don't trust you."

"I trust you _less_."

Pitch tapped his foot against the ground for a second, thinking about it. Then he turned the note sideways and ripped it in half, giving Jack the bottom half. "That keeps what you left to Aster out of it." He shook his remaining half. "But I still have the rest."

"Fine. How long do I have to get you the information?"

"Tonight. Give it all to me outside the school by nine o'clock or I'm paying a visit to the Fae house. Come alone."

"No," Jack said slowly, thinking it over. "For one thing, you're going to have about ten guys with you, _at least_. For another, there's too much. I won't be able to carry it all."

"Geez, how many notes did you take-" Pitch stopped, pausing with his mouth slightly open. "Notes. The binders. All those binders you took over the years that you started working on once you stopped running for me. Those are the notes you made on the operation."

" 'Course not-"

"Yes, they are." Pitch smirked, walking away. "Hold onto that piece of paper. At least you'll be able to stop Aster from feeling a bit more pain."

"Pitch, _stop_," Jack said, reaching forward and grabbing Pitch's arm. The much taller teenager shook Jack's arm off, but Jack refused to halt, grasping forward with his other hand too. "I'll give you the binders!"

"Will you? Or will you just give me a few of them?" Pitch said, reaching back to grab Jack's shoulder and shove him back against the light pole. "Are you going to give me ones that are actually the notes, or your seventh grade science notes? I don't trust you. I never did when you worked for me. You've caused me more trouble than you're worth just letting you be. It's my turn to cause you some trouble."

Jack strained against Pitch's weight, trying to stop his shoulder from digging any farther into the pole. Pitch slammed his other hand into the wood beside Jack's head. The freshman went still. Pitch smirked slightly at his reaction. "Reflex, huh? It's a pain in the butt when you're trying to hide fear. It's not fear of me, though. You don't fear pain. Hell, I'll bet you weren't even scared of your father. You were afraid if you left or if you didn't act, he'd go after Emma one day. That's what you were _really_ afraid of, weren't you?

"Even now, you're not afraid of me. No one would even know if I killed you now or dragged out your murder through the night. Your friends would figure it out but no one would listen to them until it was too late. You're not afraid of me. You're afraid of what would happen to your friends if you weren't there for them. They've lasted without you, obviously. Things have changed now, though, haven't they?" He lazily put all the weight he could on his arm, shifting slightly to have his arm crossed over Jack's chest to keep him pinned against the pole. He had one of Jack's arms trapped with his own, and gripped the other one with his hand to stop Jack from using it.

"Ana's aunt and uncle basically kidnapped her, didn't they? Did everything they said her mother did. Wrongfully kept the truth from her. What if they take her again? And what happened to her father, do you think? Could be that he'll come back."

"How do you-?" Jack demanded. Pitch pressed his arm further into Jack's chest, cutting him off.

"I have ears everywhere, Jack. You should know that by now. Where was I? Sandy and North aren't much of a worry in your mind yet, but they've seen you standing by the other two. They'll respect you for that, won't they? They have accepted you into the group so fast because of your loyalty. But Aster… Let's not beat around the bush. He's the real problem here, isn't he? Both parents and a brother, gone in a flash. Tragedy, they call it."

"Lachlan is-"

"Not waking up. Aster isn't taking it very well. He's as good a liar as you are when it comes to hiding his emotions. He's a mess. If we could see souls, his would probably look worse than a dead duck that's been tossed against a cliff side by the waves."

"Aster's managing through it!"

"You honestly believe that? Please. Let me ask you one question. Ever seen him cry?"

Jack stared at him for a few seconds. "I… No."

"Bottling up emotions, don't you think? I can't believe you missed that. He hasn't accepted his brother's situation yet. He's afraid to admit it. He's afraid to think that his brother might never move again. He _can't_ accept that. He has to take care of someone. In the absence of his youngest brother, he made another one. You."

Jack shook his head. "I'm not like a brother to him."

Pitch laughed, rolling his eyes. "Of course you are! You didn't know him long enough as a friend for him to think of you that way. He's straight, so you two aren't going to be a couple. And he just lost his brother. You're filling the spot of his younger brother. It's not just from his view, either!" He smirked slightly at what his next words. "It must have been horrible, that experience with your father. Did you pass out? When you woke up, Aster was there, wasn't he? Covered in blood, I'll bet. He probably refused medical attention from the hospital, too. You know what I think? I think he was badly injured. I think your father hurt him while you were unconscious and he didn't want you to know that. If he were hospitalized, you could get a nurse to tell you how bad it was." He leaned forward, uncomfortably close.

"That's what you were afraid of, throughout all this. Someone getting hurt and you not being there to protect them. You kept Emma safe from physical harm. But she had to leave. She couldn't take the emotional pain of hearing her family fall apart anymore. Ana got hurt and you didn't even know there was a problem before it happened. This can't be easy on Sandy and North either, who don't even know all of what's going on." He leaned in closely, whispering in Jack's ear in a light tone, "And Aster, did you protect him? I hope you don't think so, because he's as damaged as could be."

Pitch reached down, letting go of Jack's arm for a moment, and snatched the ripped note from Jack's hand. "On the other hand, maybe I _should_ take this back…" he murmured. "It might come in handy. Too much blackmail doesn't exist." Jack thrashed, slamming his free arm against Pitch. It knocked the senior off balance for a second, but Pitch grabbed both of Jack's arms a second later, crossing them over the younger teen's chest and holding them there. The note was gripped between his hand and Jack's wrist. "Don't," Pitch warned. After a moment, he gave Jack a teasing smile. "Did your father ever hold you like this?" Jack remained silent. "Probably the only way he ever held you. He wasn't very loving."

"Shut up!" Jack said, trying to throw Pitch's weight off.

Pitch laughed, glancing over Jack's shoulder at somebody. He nodded his head, grinning. Jack felt hands grabbing at him, pulling his arms behind his back. He thrashed, but there were too many arms. Pitch let go, allowing his workers to start tying Jack's hands together.

He turned away, smirking to himself. Then he heard someone cry out behind him and someone else curse sharply. He glanced back in time to see Jack's fist heading his way. His reflexes weren't fast enough for him to duck in time and he caught the blow straight in the mouth. He bent down and held his hands over it, feeling blood dribble out between his lips. The workers around him tried to stop Jack, but the freshman sprinted away, dodging between grasping hands.

He ran faster than he ever had before, sprinting down streets and through yards. Someone slipped and fell behind him when he took a sharp turn and another knocked into the side of the house. He grabbed the top of a fence and threw himself over it, gaining a few seconds as the ones behind him paused. A few more streets flew by underneath his feet, and there were a few still keeping pace although they were out of sight. He didn't know how they were following when they couldn't see him… He paused, realizing he had gotten mud on the bottom of his shoes and was leaving a trail after himself. Watching over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming up behind him, he threw off his shoes and socks. He took off running again, barefoot with his shoes in hand.

Jack slowed down only when he couldn't hear anyone behind him and he was sure he had lost them. His ragged breathing was loud in his ears, and he took deep breaths to steady it before he started moving again. He was miles away from where he was supposed to be, having gone in the wrong direction. With a sigh, he started jogging again, loping down the street.

A car was coming up behind him, so he moved out of the road and onto the opposite side of the street, the furthest from the car he could get. The vehicle did a very illegal U-turn to pull up beside him. Jack stepped away uneasily, about to sprint off in the opposite direction. He really didn't want to run any farther, but it was preferable to getting caught by Pitch.

The passenger window rolled down. "Need a ride?"

He grinned, a bit of his anxiety trickling away as he ducked down a little to see Cook better. "Windy." He walked forward a few paces, crouching down to rest his forearms against the door. "Got a few minutes to spare?"

"If it'll keep you out of the hospital, a few minutes is fine."

"What about a few hours?"

"That's stretching things a little."

"Even if you get to arrest about ten people for drug possession, among other things?"

She didn't pause. "Get in."

He grinned, opening the door and slipping in. "Alright, Wind, take me home."

"Windy's bad enough, you don't need to make the nickname worse."

"It shows how much we care about you."

"Whatever. Who's that?" Cook asked, pointing at a group of kids crossing the street in front of them. Jack slid down to hide under the dashboard. "You know you're in a police car, right?"

"Yeah, but it'll cause you problems later if they know you're involved," Jack said, causing a frown to form on Cook's face as she took a closer look at the suspicious crowd. "You know Pitch Black?"

"Yeah." Cook glanced down. "This is his fault?"

"He's trying to blackmail me. Unfortunately for him, I was waiting for him to do that. We've got a plan ready to catch him, but it's not like we've ever been able to test something like this before."

"We haven't been able to arrest him on anything because he always seems to have someone to back up his alibi."

"That's why we're doing this. We'll force him into doing something illegal. We need a reliable witness – like a _police officer –_ there to make sure there's no mistake about what he was doing and where he was. We're going to catch him."

"I'll help, just so long as you tell me the whole plan beforehand and don't surprise me with anything. I'll have to report some of it in."

Jack paused but nodded. "Alright. Are they gone?"

"Yeah."

He pulled himself back up into the seat. "Let's go catch the bad guys."

-.-.-.-.-

a/n: Three notes about this chapter for it to make the most sense. Two of them are about Pitch. One: Yes, he had a long speech in there. He's still working on mastering the one-liners. You'll see more of that later. I just thought it'd be neat to see his speaking style mature as he gets older. Two: Pitch was doing an alpha dog thing by muscling Jack up against the light pole. He's got the advantage of height, too. Did he use more force than strictly necessary? Yes. Was he closer than necessary? Yes. He was trying to gauge Jack's reaction to see which ways his father had hurt him so he could further use his fears against him. So if he seemed like a sexual predator there for a few seconds, he was supposed to. The third note is about Jack. He had the interaction with Pitch planned. He wanted Pitch to know the binders were the notes he had taken about the operation. However, he did not expect Pitch to find the note.

I will be posting an AvengersxRise of the Guardians crossover within the hour (most likely) because my internet is FINALLY cooperating. I meant to post this two days ago and couldn't. The story will be called Deal Breaker if anyone's interested. ...Oh, and whichever story gets the most reviews gets updated first. :P No pressure.


	20. Chapter 20

**December 24. 10:34 PM**

Cook's cruiser pulled up in front of Jack's house, skidding to a stop. She got out, running around the side and listening intently to Jack. He had been telling her in rapid fire what the basic plan was. There was no need to go into details since she wouldn't be able to remember it all and it wasn't necessary for her to know and still help them. She was absorbing the last of it when he opened the door, running in and looking at the four inside. Sandy and Ana were on the couch, sharing Baby Tooth between the two of them. North was in the kitchen and building a surprisingly well-balanced structure out of cutlery, taking it back out of the box it had been packed into. Aster was lying on his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

"Pitch fell for it," Jack said, getting their attention immediately. "Let's move."

"Where's he goin' first?" Aster asked, propping himself up with his elbows. His gaze flickered over Jack's shoulder, seeing Cook. He growled low in his throat, getting to his feet and stepping forward. "Jack, there's-"

"Cook will be a better witness than any of us, especially since we're going to have to break some laws to do this," Jack pointed out. "She doesn't know everything, so even if she does turn on us, she'll have trouble arresting us for everything."

"Good to see there's no trust issues in this group," Cook sarcastically remarked, refraining from rolling her eyes. "Look, I care more about catching Black than a bit of trespassing you guys might do."

"It's gonna be worse than trespassing," Aster said. He glanced at Jack. "Ya sure?"

"You got a faster way to get around town?" Jack said. "Come on, let's move!"

The other three were already getting to their feet and quickly followed him out of the house. They closed the door behind them, although there wasn't any real point in doing so since the place would soon be ransacked, as planned. Pitch would come here first, believing that's where the binders would be kept. Upon finding them all missing, he would go to the next obvious place, where the binders actually were. Aster's home. Shortly after Jack had requested for Aster to take them, the two had transferred the stacks of binders to the Australian's house. They had remained there until now, waiting for their time to be useful. Aster had been none too pleased to realize that he could have brought Pitch down at any time if he had just stopped to think about why Jack had made the binders in the first place.

Jack reminded them of their jobs, as if they hadn't already memorized it multiple times by now. Cook listened with interest, but kept most of her focus on her driving. A few times she saw an unusually large or quickly moving group of teenagers moving around and wondered if they were part of the mess that was quickly unfolding underneath her feet. Jack noticed them too, pausing several times to inspect the groups to see if Pitch was among them. He didn't see him, but that didn't mean he wasn't waiting in the shadows.

"How long did it take for him to fall for it?" Ana asked.

"He realized it halfway through trying to blackmail me," Jack said. "I had to drop a few hints, but less than I thought I would have to. He's smart, I'll give him that."

"Do you think there is chance he saw through it and is going to Aster's too?" North asked.

Jack shook his head. "No, he was heading in the direction of my home last I saw him. Besides, there's no reason he would even think they'd be at Aster's."

"How is he going to find you guys once you all split up?" Cook asked. She shot a glance into the back of her car. North was sitting in the passenger's seat and the other four were crammed in the back. They weren't even bothering to use seatbelts and Jack was sitting on the ground with his bottom half in Aster's space and torso sharing the leg space with Sandy's feet.

"Because we have to go to the police station," Jack said. "He knows we're going to go there so he'll stake out in that area."

"Is he going to have enough people to 'make' you split up?" Cook turned, ignoring the stop sign she had just passed. If any of the others noticed that, they didn't mention it.

"Considering the chase he had to give to stay behind me for more than two minutes, I'll bet he'll bring as many as he can," Jack warned. "Don't underestimate him for this or anyone working with him. They know they'll get arrested if we get the information there. Pitch doesn't care about whether or not he gets arrested since he knows he can get out right away…unless we can get your testimony. I'd like you to stay out of this as much as possible except when we need a ride somewhere immediately, so he doesn't consider that he might be putting himself in an incriminating position."

-.-.-.-.-.-

**10: 45 PM**

They split up as soon as they had their binders. It took them less than five minutes to get into Aster's abandoned home, divide the binders up between them, and take off into the night. They all went different routes to avoid being caught at the same time. It was a few miles to the police department, but the time it took them to travel there would be crucial for Pitch. Hopefully the senior was driving a car around or he would have to sprint to make up for lost time spent chasing after their bread crumbs.

It turned out to not matter whether or not he was driving around town. While he and a batch of his workers had gone to Jack's house, another group had formed a loose perimeter around the police station, lying in wait on benches or in parked cars. North hit the perimeter first, trying to slam through in regular Russian style. Five split off immediately from their positions, doing their best to block or chase him off. He simply grinned, dodging two of them and slamming his forearm into a third to knock him away. The other two gave chase, one grabbing at the backpack he was using to carry the binders.

Three minutes later, Ana skidded to a stop at a corner four blocks from where North was. She had run faster, managing to get there relatively close to when North had arrived at his entry point despite the longer distance she had needed to go. All seven of Pitch's workers saw her and rose from their positions, not leaving anyone to guard the road. Ana backtracked a few paces, then turned and ran down the road to her left. They chased after her, not even bothering to look twice when they crossed through the intersection to see if anyone had gone with her. Aster slipped past unnoticed, smirking.

He was a tantalizing block away from the police station when someone slammed into him, knocking both to the ground. He rolled, absorbing most of the impact easily. His backpack dug in to his shoulders uncomfortably, but he resisted the urge to rub them as he got up to his feet. His attacker was doing the same, coming after him again. He recognized her as Onyx, a close friend of Pitch's. She swiped at the backpack but he knocked her away, dodging past to try to get to the station. Her hands scrabbled against his arm, slowing him down a little but not enough for her to grab the backpack away from him. He could see a few more shadows approaching in front, probably having left their own stations in capable hands to stop him from sneaking through. He counted four. They wouldn't be too hard to outrun. Onyx stumbled slightly as he pivoted on his left foot, making a sharp turn to avoid running smack into the workers.

Sandy was one of the last to reach the perimeter, having jogged a lot slower than the others. There was no rush, after all. This was merely a distraction. He stopped when he saw six kids sitting on or leaning against a car on the road he was moving along. They looked at him and he stared back for a long minute. He turned and walked calmly away. They slowly slid off the car or stood up straight, starting after him like a pack of wolves moving in slow motion. He was saving his strength. There was no reason to run around so much at the beginning when he was going to be doing enough of that later.

Jack watched from a rooftop as Sandy walked away, thumbs hooked in the straps of his backpack like he was going for a hike in the woods. He smiled to himself, amused by the demeanor of his friend. The perimeter hadn't totally fallen apart as they chased off the others, but it had certainly dissipated. There were probably about twenty left, still waiting for Jack to try to make his way through. He was pretty sure they were using radio to keep contact. There was no other way for them to be responding to emergencies so fast besides phones, but messages or conversations through those could be traced. Radios were the logical answer.

Unfortunately for them, they were too focused on the roads to pay attention to other ways someone could slip through to the police station. Jack bounced backwards a few steps on his toes, excitement making him grin. He'd waited a long time and pent up a lot of frustration so he could do this one day. He had devoted years to taking down Pitch. Never, though, had he ever imagined it would feel this way. Instead of feeling a strong urge of vindictiveness and like a vigilante, he felt a warm glow of companionship and trust. He could've done this alone, but it was much better to do it with friends and family.

He dropped his backpack on the roof, making sure it was attached securely to the smokestack so it wouldn't fall. A layer of frost beneath him created beautiful decorations across the shingles, and he traced a pattern with his eyes as he walked back several yards from the edge of the roof. He reached down, untying his shoes and taking off his socks. The latter were balled up and shoved in his shoes, which were tied to his waist through a belt loop. Then he took a deep breath and turned back to face the direction he had been looking in before. He jumped forward, taking off at a fast sprint. His breath quickened as he reached the end of the roof and his toes wrapped around the edge, legs bunching up briefly to propel himself across the distance.

He hit the opposite roof, curling into a ball for a moment to roll across the slanted surface. Before he could roll off to the ground below, he stretched out and got a grip on the shingles with his bare feet, running up and across. His eyes were already on the next target. The neighbor's roof was closer than the last had been, making it much easier to jump the distance. The faint fluttering of worry in his stomach faded, replaced by the joy of soaring through the air. He grinned as he made the third jump, laughing aloud and not caring if someone heard him. It wasn't like they were going to be able to stop him from the ground, was it?

He flew from roof to roof, jumping from house to store and back to another house. His feet were getting colder and colder and his thigh began to ache from his shoes knocking against it the longer he continued on. He pushed back any concerns about losing feeling in his feet from the cold since he was better able to adjust to the terrain without shoes. Despite his courage, the adrenaline rush he was feeling was causing his limbs to start trembling. It was probably the only thing that ensured he reached the next roof safely, but he tried not to dwell on that. This was too much fun to think about the dangers of it.

The next roof was a flat one, and he recognized it as the fire department. There was a bedding of gravel on top, causing him to wince in pain as his numb feet were rudely scratched by the rough surface. He increased his pace, trying to get past this part as quickly as he could. If he looked over the roof down below, he could see Pitch's car parked outside the police station, which was next door, and several of his workers down the street. They were clearly waiting for him.

Jack jumped down to the roof of the police station and turned sharply, turning the momentum around with a twirl to let him fall easily off the side of the roof. He grabbed onto the rain gutter, pulling up his knees to stop himself from slamming painfully into the brick wall. He had aimed perfectly, balancing right next to a window. Cook had driven to the station after dropping them off at Aster's and had unlocked it for him.

He glanced over his shoulder at the street. With a bark of laughter, he saw Pitch's mouth hanging open as he stared at Jack in shock. Jack, still chuckling, reached down and pulled open the window. He tugged up his legs up further and slipped in. His feet met a cool counter, and he bent down to get his torso in all the way. When he stood up fully, he realized he had just landed in the small kitchen of the department in the middle of a birthday celebration for one of the officers.

Jack smiled, nodded at them, and hopped down from the counter. He turned around and closed the window, then walked out of the room. The officers had gone silent, staring at him as he went past.

Cook was in her office, filing paperwork. She glanced up when the entire department went silent, taking in the sight of a random child walking in from the back with his face flushed, hair windswept, feet bare, and shoes tied to his waste. He ignored them all, making his way straight to Cook's office. He plopped himself down in the chair opposite her desk.

"Officer, I've got a report to make."

She leaned forward, tilting her head to the side curiously. "Oh? What about?"

-.-.-.-.-

**10:50 PM**

Ana didn't leave the area. She continued circling the perimeter that had been set up, darting in occasionally to test its strength. The pack of Pitch's followers behind her had not given up chase, but she was a good runner and in excellent strength. They began lagging behind by the end of the first mile, one dropping out entirely. Unfortunately, because she was poking their sturdiest spot in the entire town at the moment, they were able to keep her running and wear her out while they could take a break whenever they wanted to.

She was the distraction so the others could get out of the area. They would take the five or so following them and get out into a different place in town, trying to run them down. While the perimeter was excited into thinking they would catch her at any moment, they focused on the immediate prize and didn't stop to consider that they weren't backing up their comrades chasing the other three. That was the intention and it was working beautifully.

The group chasing her was not the original one that had started. There was a single runner who had the endurance to keep pace the entire time, but he was beginning to lag. The next time they passed a post of more sentries he would most likely stop to take a breather. The others must have gotten out of the area by now. It was time to take out these guys so she could keep going.

The key was not to make what they were doing too obvious. It was difficult to manage all of it at the same time – don't get caught, keep them running, completely the main objective, don't let them know what's going on – but this entire thing would be a waste if she didn't manage it. It was a lot of work for something that could only take a few minutes if Jack simply made a trade, his testimony for immunity, but it wasn't about taking out one person anymore. It was taking out what that one person _represented_. That was a cause that deserved this much effort.

She had been running for almost an hour straight by this point and it was taking its toll on her. Her pace hadn't been exceptionally brusque, but it had been faster than normal and she was going to have to do this for a while longer. Jack knew how to run an operation like this, she had to give him that. She was exerting the most work at the beginning, but she was going to have a break first to prepare for the finale. If he hadn't planned this out like that, she could have been in serious trouble.

There was almost a block between her and her pursuers. That was the largest distance she was going to be able to keep up if they kept switching off and getting breaks and she was left to run herself ragged. It was now or never.

She dropped to the ground, as if having tripped and fallen. A shoulder strap slipped off, letting the backpack awkwardly skid onto the ground. She reached over, grabbing it and unzipping the top. The distance between her and the ones behind her was still large enough that they wouldn't be able to see her slip out two of the binders, English and Biology, as she got to her feet. She bent over them for a second, as if gathering them up after they had fallen. The binders "slipped" from her grasp and she "dropped" them. A glance back at the workers behind her proved they were too close for comfort and she "chose to abandon" the binders, taking off again and leaving them behind. As she and Jack were both relying on to happen, they stopped following her for the moment to capture the binders and fight over whom would have the honor of taking them to Pitch.

She smiled to herself as she ran off, ducking around the next corner and running into someone's lawn. A grouping of hedges in the front provided the perfect hiding place, letting her drop out of sight and rest for a few moments. Her legs ached, but it was well worth the pain if this would just work. Her first part in this plan was complete.

-.-.-.-.-

**11:03 PM**

The five people chasing him were barely worthy of doing so. They didn't act as a team, all focused on their own selfish needs of being the one to get a pat on the head from Pitch, and definitely didn't think about the big picture. They hadn't even consulted the rest of their group before running off after him. The remaining two on that street had probably taken one look at the group following North and decided that they had a better chance of getting a hold of one of the binders if they just waited for someone to try to slip through. They didn't realize that if one of the five friends were actually trying, they could have broken through the perimeter easily by now. Did anyone realize they had been a little too obvious about their locations when trying to break through?

Hopefully Pitch would be distracted as planned, too distracted to realize the rare oddities he might see about what they were doing. He would be more focused on trying to keep track of all their locations (which they were further causing problems with by separating into different regions of town, not even keeping in the same area), finding out who had what binders (at least each person had taken a certain type so it wasn't totally random), and keeping anyone from realizing what was going on. He was relying on the five of them not wanting to drag innocent bystanders into this, thereby not wanting to bang on someone's door and ask for them to call the police. With Pitch's workers so close on their tails, it could prove to be incredibly dangerous for whoever's door they knocked on.

North glanced behind him to see how close his followers were. They were keeping pace with him but weren't too close. A glance at his watch proved he had been on the move for almost two hours now. He had been able to catch a break a few times when the pursuers had lagged behind and he had slowed. In comparison to most of the others, he was relatively slow although he had endurance. He had never had to run this much before, but it seemed like Pitch's workers hadn't ever needed to either. It was a possibility that they might even call a truce if he offered to give them a binder in return for them all taking a five minute break.

He had a better idea, though. They needed to give these guys the binders, but Pitch couldn't know they were handing them away on purpose. This required subtlety. That was not one of North's strongest suits.

He ran up an incline and then turned back around, facing his followers suddenly. They slowed, confused. He raised his hands above his head and ran forward, bellowing at the top of his lungs. All five of them yelped and ran back down the hill, exhaustion and surprise confusing their thoughts. North stopped after a few seconds, smirking to himself, and crouched down, pulling off his backpack as he did so. He couldn't keep up running like this for very long. It was time to hand over one or two of the binders. His followers didn't need him to stop yelling for them to realize they had just made a very stupid mistake. They began turning back around.

North pulled one of the four history books out of his backpack. He opened up the first one and clipped it open, keeping his gaze on his pursuers making their way back up the hill. With a smirk, he pulled out the all the paper from the binder and held it above his head. They stopped once more, puzzled and a little worried about what he was doing. Then one of them yelled, telling him to stop. He ignored the teenager, opening his hand and letting all the paper be carried away by the wind.

He laughed as they scrambled after it, trying to gather the paper together. Fortunately for them, most of it flew together in clumps. It would only take them half a minute to gather all the papers together. After zipping the backpack up and slinging it over his back again, North began jogging again, much slower this time, to put a little distance between him and his pursuers. They were going to have a fun time collecting all those papers and fighting over who would take it back. In the end, they all probably would and would all be reprimanded by Pitch for leaving North alone.

The pursuers would, however, see him reach his destination. They had chased him into the forest, it would seem, where he could hide in the shadows and hopefully sneak back up to the police station without anyone noticing. It would make looking for him a lot harder, certainly, exasperated by the fact that Aster was doing the exact same thing. North was in the south and Aster in the north, though, so they probably wouldn't cross paths for a while now.

He hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

-.-.-.-.-

a/n: Confused about why they're giving away the binders that they should be keeping a hold of? You should be, unless you've figured out what they're doing. It will all be revealed soon…

By the way, the "Take me home, Wind" comment was not my idea. **Zephyrus Genesis** came up with that while we were talking about something. I forgot to disclaim that in the last one.

And as for the reviews… Well, sorry, but Deal Breaker kinda kicked your butts. They hit twenty-seven (I don't blame you for not hitting that, since I could hardly believe they hit that) compared to your seventeen. The competition is still on so I know which one I should be more worried about updating.


	21. Chapter 21

**December 24. 11:15 PM**

Aster was sure he had gotten into position first. He had absolutely no clue where the others were right now, but it was about time they had finally reached their posts. North, he supposed, might not have reached his position yet just because it was the furthest away. Aster had had the most trouble sprinting ahead and then realizing the idiots behind him didn't have the speed or endurance he possessed. To keep the charade going, he'd had to fake injury and adopt a limp as he ran. The faked injury at least made it easier to move slower and allow them to keep up. He still felt great and full of energy by the time he reached the northern part of the forest.

It was harder to let the others keep pace with him once they entered the woods. It was dark and hard to see, which made it difficult on his pursuers to even follow in his general direction. He glanced behind, smirking. This was going to be so easy. He hoped the others were having just as swell a time, because things were going without a hitch. The riskiest part so far might be that Jack could run across Pitch again, what with both being so close to the police headquarters, but that would go away soon.

He knew the forest pretty well, but he began hoping there was a larger moon out so he could see easier. He had already been smacked several times with branches and it was really starting to annoy him that-

Something hit his leg, knocking him off balance. He flipped over onto the ground, hitting painfully on his side. The branch that had snagged his leg broke off, letting him go. The steep slope and his sudden weight incited a small avalanche that took him down with it. He skidded for a while and then began rolling, trying to hold onto his backpack as tightly as he could. Snow bunched up underneath his clothes and made the uncomfortable terrain even worse.

The ground gave way beneath him again and he fell two meters before slamming down onto something solid. The breath went out of him, leaving him panting for breath for a few seconds. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the ground, listening to the sound of his crying body parts for a second to make sure nothing was too badly hurt. When he was sure he had no broken limbs, he started getting to his feet. It was then that he noticed there was no weight on his shoulders. The backpack he had been holding on so tightly to by the straps had nothing in it. The binders were scattered across the hill he had just fallen down.

He swore, looking past the drop off he had just fallen from and the hill beyond it. There was no way he was going to be able to find the binders in the dark, but then, his pursuers weren't going to be able to either. He just had to get them away from here. They were yelling at the top of the hill to each other, trying to figure out which way he had gone.

He started loping away, kicking a branch out of the way to make enough noise to attract attention. It worked, starting up the man hunt once more. This was going to be a long night, he could tell. Now he wasn't even protecting anything and he still had to run around like an idiot. Or maybe he could drop his tails somehow…

-.-.-.-.-

**11:19 PM**

Cook made sure no one was looking as she pointed Jack to the back of the police station. There were several officers already on the lookout for Pitch and his friends, but because of his admittance of guilt testimony, Jack had been handcuffed to a chair and placed under arrest. He paid attention as Cook murmured directions to the back, picking the lock on the handcuff as she did so. Jack wasn't even bothering to sit, finding it much too annoying when there was work to be done. His shoes were back on his feet for the time being, simply because they had been freezing when he had come through the window.

"Stay safe, okay?" Cook said, looking him in the eyes. "When you're done, find my house on Arleston Road, 4572. I want to make sure you all made it out alright."

"It might not be possible," Jack said hesitantly.

"Do your best. If one of you is injured, you're going to need medical treatment that you won't be able to give on the run."

"I don't want to make you into a criminal for aiding us."

"Don't worry about it. That's the adults' jobs. Now go out there and kick some butt. Be careful heading out, though. You're going to go past the holding cells." She grimaced, looking at him apologetically. "Your father hasn't gone to trial yet and he's still in there."

Jack nodded. "He can't say much other than he saw me leave, which is the same thing the video cameras will tell them. It's not much of a problem."

"I mean…" She trailed off.

Jack laughed slightly. "Please tell me you don't think I'm worried about him when he's behind bars and I'm not. I plan to keep it that way, too. Alright, I'm outta here. See ya later, Wind!"

"See you…" she replied as he walked out. Most of the police had gone home for the night so he was able to slip out reasonably unnoticed. She had been picking the lock from behind a barrier so no camera had been able to see her there. "Be safe."

The holding area was definitely somewhere he did not want to be, Jack decided as soon as he opened the door. Several people inside moved to the bars, reaching out to try and tug at his clothing. He ignored them, walking straight through. His father was in a cell halfway to the end, sitting on his cot. He glanced up when Jack walked past. Jack heard his father call his name a few times softly, and then twice urgently. He ignored him, not even stopping to hear what his father had to tell him. He didn't need to hear another excuse.

The open air was a relief, and he let the door close behind him as he ran forward. He stripped off his shoes, tying them to his waist again as he moved, and jumped up onto the dumpster by the side of the police station. He used it to propel himself up onto the roof, and from there he sprinted across and made the jump to the neighboring roof. It was taller, so he had to grab onto the edge and scramble over the rest of the way. From there, he went back over the route he had gone before, running over shingles and cement, racing to get to the backpack. The others were surely well on their way to success by now, out of the area at the least. He wasn't worried about any of them in particular, although it did cross his mind that Pitch's guys could be carrying weapons. He doubted it because this had been so unexpected.

When he reached the first roof he had started on, he crouched down by the smokestack he had tied to the backpack to. He gripped the bag with his legs to stop it from falling as he loosened the knot until he could just yank it off. The rope was stuffed in his bag, and the backpack was slung onto his back. For a few minutes, he walked around the perimeter of the roof to see how many of Pitch's workers were at each side to judge which one would be the best to hop down from. The north-east side was closest to where he needed to go, the tributaries of a river passing through the forest, but he couldn't see anyone in sight.

With a sigh, he climbed down the side of the house using the drainage pipes on the south-west corner. There were so few people around him that if he wanted anyone to know where he was, he was going to have to run around two corners to get the right amount of people. He descended as slightly but quickly as he could, not wanting to be caught as soon as he hit the ground. He landed in a garden, giving him the chance to stumble through a bush to get the attention of the nearby teenagers. They glanced over, excited at seeing one of their quarry so close. Jack took off, sprinting away as they gave chase.

-.-.-.-.-

**11:25 PM**

Pitch glanced up as the next report came in, this time from the river. Jack had been sighted heading in that direction. Pitch let out a frustrated snarl. That teenager was behind all of this. He had put _everyone_ who worked for or who had ever done business with Pitch on the line, and they were all panicking as word spread about what was going. Pitch tried to play it off, making it sound like it was just a rumor or that it was better than it seemed, but the facts were that no one but him understood the full meaning of Jack going rogue.

He had been with Pitch when the older teenager had started everything. He had had access to every name at the beginning, every single person who had needed a delivery and all of the delivery boys. Jack knew the routes they took and the techniques they used, some of which he had come up with himself. The worst part was that it wasn't just his testimony. Anything he said could be checked out, and a lot of it could probably be proved correct as soon as someone looked. If the truth continued spreading around, other workers might begin defecting.

Pitch looked up as a worker headed over to him, a triumphant grin spread across his face. He had a stack of papers in his hands and was struggling to keep them all together. There were a few more boys behind him, carrying a little less than the one in front. "Pitch, we got one!"

"From who?"

"North! We cornered him and he gave one of them up!"

"And where is he now?"

The teen's grin faded and he glanced at the others for support. They offered no assistance. "He slipped away when we were grabbing the papers. They were flying all over the place and we didn't want-"

"_Idiots, all of you!_" Pitch yelled. "It doesn't matter if the police get a hold of a _few papers_! If you wouldn't have been able to capture all of it, then would the police have been able to hours later?! You could have gotten the rest of the binders North had, and instead you decided to go after the most inconsequential thing near you!" He knocked the papers out of the teenager's hands, letting them scatter across the street. The other boys behind him exchanged looks, not sure if they should let their own papers slip away or not. "Where is he now?!"

"We… We don't know, we abandoned the chase to get these back to you-"

Pitch let out an angry sound, shoving past him and moving away. The rest of the boys let the papers slip away, not wanting to be the source of any more trouble. Pitch stalked back to the car he had been leaning against. In the back, there were already two binders, the English and biology ones, gained from Ana. Those had been gathered with less stupidity than this one had been, luckily.

The group who had brought back the papers departed, trying to pick up the trail to find North again. Pitch ignored them as they left, staring irritably at the ground in front of him. He wished Jack still worked for him, just so he didn't have to be surrounded by _morons_ all the time.

The betrayal hit deep, making Pitch's fury all the more vindictive and terrible. He had relied on Jack, trusted him to always get the job done no matter what the cost. He thought Jack had understood that this was Pitch's livelihood and what he loved doing, craving the power of controlling so many through the fear of what he did. Even if Jack didn't believe in that, this job was the first time he had ever belonged somewhere. Didn't that mean something to him? Was his sense of justice so strong he had to turn everyone in?

Jack was an incredible strategist. Pitch wasn't going to underestimate him, no matter what. The intricate plans he came up with in his head were almost works of art, spreading out beneath his feet like patterns of frost on a pond. His mind was a map, always calculating new routes to get something done and alternate ways in case the first time failed. Pitch had loved working with him for that reason, adored seeing him in his element. He had picked up a few things from Jack, but he had never been a natural at all of it like Jack was. It was lucky that the younger child had left the organization after most of the complex things had already been set up.

That was why the strange tactics he was using now frightened Pitch so much. The safeties Pitch and Jack had put into place to prevent something like this from happening were in full effect, but a few were backfiring already. Jack would have expected some of them to do just that and was already compensating for it. Whatever his plan was, it was dramatic and meant to divert Pitch's attention from something. Pitch knew that, but there were so many details to Jack's plan that there was no way Pitch could figure out the entire thing when he didn't even know how much time he had to think.

So far, there were a few things he had figured out. Jack was working with the four friends he had made, and had somehow convinced them to all engage in this dangerous activity. The four knew who they were up against. Each person had a certain amount of binders, probably around four each since Pitch knew there had been about twenty, and had been given a specific area to retreat to ahead of time that they should stay in. If Jack was working the way Pitch suspected, they had split up to prevent Pitch blockading them all in a specific area with sheer force. With all of them separated, they didn't have to worry about each other as much and could dart between cracks to get away.

He suspected they would begin rotating soon. Ana was running around the perimeter that had been set up a few blocks out from the police station. She was going to burn out soon, but the group wouldn't be able to waste time recuperating and give Pitch's side a chance to do the same. As soon as she pulled back, someone else was probably going to take her place and try to move through.

Sandy was close by, but he was barely running. The people following him were enjoying their assignment the most since they had to run the least. North was the next logical choice, since he was close but also in the best shape. Aster had taken a fall and it was suspected that he was injured from it. Jack was the busiest right now, since his sprint to safety had just begun.

There had to be a reason they were all in different areas, some so far from their destination. Pitch had an overwhelming number to chase them all down separately, didn't Jack know that? Yes… Yes, he did. That's why he split them up. If he could separate the bulk of Pitch's group, they would have a likelier chance of being able to get one person to slip through the dispersed perimeter. Someone like Jack.

His best assumption was that Jack had gone into the police station earlier to give an account of what had happened. If he had stayed, he would surely have been held there until he was sent to court. Jack could have made a deal, but the temporary imprisonment and the spotlight of the media would be a worse torture for him than simply serving out a prison term sentence. He was now doing his part with the others, carrying the binders around the town. The others probably had no clue what his true relationship to Pitch was so they would have deniability. Through an incredibly complex scheme and plenty of wordplay, he would hand over the binders he had to the others and slip away into the night, never to be seen again while Pitch and his companions were arrested. He could have gotten all the binders to the station on his own by using the rooftops, but then he wouldn't have been able to leave town. It seemed a little off that Jack would put his friends in danger, but maybe there was a further plan to this Pitch had yet to uncover.

They were the weakness Jack possessed. If Pitch could somehow capture or restrain them, Jack would give away the rest of the binders and his plan would be ruined. Pitch would have to find something to do with Jack. Maybe he could get him arrested. Killing him could cause problems later. As long as Pitch could put pressure on Jack using his friends, things could be contained and the situation would be under control within days.

He couldn't consider damage control yet. It was an all or nothing. Everyone would be caught or no one. Whatever happened, Jack Frost was going to be dragged down to the point where he could never rise again to cause trouble.

-.-.-.-.-.-

a/n: As I almost literally stated, the plans Jack comes up with are supposed to be like the frost he creates with his staff, because he makes it look so effortless and executes it so fast. I wanted to do something with the frost because it was so intricate, and that was what I came up with.

I was going to post this _a lot_ sooner, but I ran into a whole lot of technical issues. Thanks to Zach of Tech Support for trying to help me figure out what the heck was going on! We're still not totally sure, but it's something with my laptop. I had to borrow someone else's to get this posted. Yay, Zach of Tech Support!


	22. Chapter 22

**December 24. 11:50 AM**

Across the town of Burgess, many things were happening at once.

North had relinquished another binder to Pitch's allies, leaving him with two history binders. He was still on the run in the southern part of the forest, jogging steadily to preserve his strength but continue going all the same. Surprisingly, he had twice been able to negotiate a deal with his followers to persuade them to take a break for a few minutes so they could all catch their breath. They had spent it wisely, stopping each time by a creek so they could all get drinks of water. Luckily, the two rivers that ran through this forest were both clean enough to drink from, as are many other rivers in Maine. After resting, the chase had resumed again.

Sandy was the favorite to follow. He had continued walking around town, but none of the boys or girls following him had ever picked up the pace. It seemed somehow wrong to chase down the smaller teenager, and it also seemed like a horrible idea. Something warned them that accidents might befall them if they tried to steal the binders. There was an oddity about Sandy's sure and steady pace that said they could be walking into a trap at any moment. But walking was better than running, and their comrades across town were doing just that. As a result of their hesitancy, he still had all his binders.

Ana still carried the French and Spanish binders, holding onto them tightly until the time came. It wouldn't be long until she would need to drop them and pick up a much more valuable item. She and Jack had accidentally crossed paths as he made his way to his area, and they had been able to duck away for a few seconds to exchange information. Jack had asked a favor of her, one that had been readily agreed upon.

After that meeting with Cook, Jack had made his way to the river. Pitch's group had found him again and followed him as he ducked and dodged through the woods. It made for the best of hiding places, and the dark made it all too easy to move about unseen. The problem was that he needed to be out in the open so they could chase him. His backpack apparently had a hole in it, because within the first few minutes he had lost all but the Trigonometry binder. That one had been saved and was held tightly in his hands as he ran. He was quickly proving to be one of the worst to follow, second only to Aster.

The Australian was having way too much fun, throwing all kinds of problems in the way of his followers. Onyx was an excellent runner and was merely frustrated by many of the challenges she faced. He chose the most difficult paths to run but she kept pace, moving almost as fast as he did. The rest had fallen behind, leaving them to their race. Aster would have preferred to have multiple workers after him to keep them off the trail of his friends, but Onyx's speed pushed him ahead and made the others drop out. His empty backpack made it easier to move quickly onward.

-.-.-.-.-

**December 25. 12:08 AM**

"Jack, what are you doing here?" North asked as the white haired teen suddenly appeared beside him. "Should you not be by river?"

"North, you _are _by the river," Jack said. "Nice idea of calling a truce for a break, by the way. I'll bet the guys following me wish I had done that. I ditched them, by the way. I've only got the Trig book left."

"Is there going to be a change to the plans?" North asked.

"One you'll like. You aren't going to be giving them any more binders so there's no reason for you to run around the forest anymore. I'm pulling you out until the finale so you can hold onto something." He pulled North down, ducking by a large rock. The teenagers behind them ran past, not even noticing in the dark that they weren't chasing anyone anymore. A minute passed and then Jack handed over a cardboard box to North. "Be _very_ careful with this," he warned. "Do not drop it, and whatever you do, do not _open_ it."

"What's inside?" North asked.

"Uh… Present for Pitch," Jack said, smirking. He handed a binder to North. "This is the French binder. Ana's getting ready for the last part of all this. We went ahead and gave the Spanish binder to Pitch's guys as a distraction so she could get away. Stay out of sight until the end."

"Who knew Christmas this year was going to turn out this way for all of us?" North asked, gesturing to everything around them. Jack sighed, turning somber. North paused. "In a good way, I mean. Pitch won't cause trouble for anyone again once we're done."

"If I'm doing this right," Jack said. "What if I'm not? What if Pitch has gotten smarter or he remembers my tactics and has seen through them? What if someone gets hurt? Maybe in the end, we'll get caught to."

"As long as they don't catch us before the very end, we won't be in prison at all," North pointed out.

"Ana will be if she's arrived at her destination yet," Jack said. "I should've done that part myself. It's the most dangerous and I'm already being chased after by the police."

"Jack, do not worry so much," North said with a laugh. "Your plan will work perfectly. It already is. Pitch does not know what is about to happen and he won't until it is too late. All of us will be fine and we can start a new life."

"You're giving up the most for this. Thank you." He looked away, to the river that had frozen up. "I'm glad I've got friends like you who are ready to make this journey with me."

"Well, we're not going very far, are we?" North replied with a smile. "I am glad to stand by all of you in situation like this. I am proud to have such brave friends. This is the right thing to do." He clapped a hand on Jack's shoulder. "It is not over and we still have much to do. At the end, we are still meeting at the place you mentioned before?"

"Yep. See you there," Jack said with a grin, then stood up and glanced around. Seeing no one, he waved at North and then sprinted off. North smiled, glad his friend was finally getting this weight off his chest.

He looked in the direction his followers had gone. He didn't need to run anymore. That was a relief, he thought. Then he frowned.

He had absolutely no idea where he was in the woods.

-.-.-.-.-

**December 25. 12:18 AM**

It took Ana about half an hour to get to the school. It shouldn't have taken that long except she'd had to ditch her followers, grab the 'present' for Pitch and give it to Jack, find Cook, and get some supplies. She had then been able to run over and stand by one of the windows. Cook was over her shoulder, shining a flashlight on her hands while she worked. Cook, having known about the security systems of the school, had already dismantled several of them so no alarm would begin blaring when Ana opened the window.

"I'm taking it that this is the reason why you weren't sure I would want to come along," Cook said dryly.

"Well, part of it," Ana replied. She finishing pick-locking the window and opened it. "Alright, its best you don't come in."

"No, I want to make sure you don't do anything stupid that could implicate any of you. Like, for instance, unlocking a window without gloves on."

Ana glanced down at her exposed hands and gave Cook an embarrassed look. The officer rolled her eyes as she threw a pair of gloves on and began wiping down the window with her shirt sleeve where Ana had touched it. She tossed Ana another pair of gloves from her pocket. "I figured I might end up doing something like this by the time we were done," she explained. "Let's go."

Ana climbed in as quietly as she could, even though she knew there was no one inside. Cook followed behind her a second later. Ana led her out of the room they had just broken into, Mr. Watson's, and tried not to look back with too much regret.

They made their way upstairs to the labs. Mrs. Barrett's room was locked, but it took less time to pick this one that it had to pick the window's lock. Ana went to the back of the room where the closets were. She opened one and picked a binder out of it. Cook had stayed by the door and watched as Ana closed the closet and walked back over.

"I thought Jack had all the binders at Aster's house," she said.

"He had to keep this in the safest place possible," Ana replied. "The other binders have some of the information in them, but most of the information just says to look at this one for more details. This has all the information and it's not coded. This can be used in a case to bring down everything Pitch worked for." She handed it to Cook. "We need you to start building a case based off that."

"Why didn't he just hand this in at the beginning?"

"He couldn't stay near the police and he needed to build a case against Pitch in case he had something up his sleeve for immunity."

Cook opened it and glanced through the first few pages. "How long did it take for him to get all this together?" she said, stunned.

"A few years, I think," Ana replied. "He didn't like talking about his experience there. I think he's ashamed he didn't leave earlier, but… I think it wasn't his fault. He didn't have any parents who watched over him like they should have and he didn't have any friends. Pitch was the closest thing he had. Jack didn't have anyone to tell him not to do it."

Cook closed the binder, looking at Ana sadly. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for him before."

"We all are, but there's nothing we can do about it. Can you be at the pond in an hour to witness everything?" Ana asked. Cook nodded. "Thank you so much for doing this. We were going to trick North into being the witness, which is why everything he did was entirely legal and he had deniability about this breaking-and-entering thing I'm doing right now, but I think he caught on to what we were trying to do and just didn't say anything. He was going to give his testimony and then catch up with his later. I suppose we all knew he was going to do that but just didn't mention it because we didn't have an alternative."

"I'll witness your brash actions and stupid decisions, I promise," Cook said, smiling. She turned around and started walking back the way they had come. "Do you wish to stay instead? Is it a hard decision?"

"No. Actually, I knew Jack was going to have to do something drastic to avoid being taken away by child services. I began suspecting Aster and he were planning to run away. I think they bought thought about it. I told them if they were going to, I wanted to go with them. I didn't want to spend the next two and a half years under the roof of liars. So, I mean, I was going to leave anyway. I like this way better than just running away."

"It's incredibly selfless of all of you. I told Jack, so now I'm telling you, too. Meet me at my house later, after this is all over. I want to make sure you all made it out okay."

"I'll make sure we all stop by," Ana said.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Cook climbed out the window first and then closed it behind Ana. The girl gave the gloves back to Cook, who walked over to her car and got in. Ana smiled at her before trotting off. Cook waited a few minutes, sighed to herself, and then put the car into gear and pressed the gas pedal.

Ana made her way back to the perimeter, just to see how things were going there. The perimeter was thicker now. The ones who had been chasing her and Jack had returned to their post. She recognized a few who had been after Aster, so something must have happened that had shaken them from his tail. North's would start coming back here soon, too.

Cook had most likely already driven through. Pitch had no idea that all his efforts to catch the five of them was for naught. His prison sentence was in the passenger's seat of the police cruiser that his comrades had just let slip through their fingers.

Ana smiled to herself as she walked through town, knowing she may be seeing these places for the last time. She didn't hurry, seeing as she didn't have to be at the pond for a while. Jack, she knew, wasn't doing the same thing. If he wanted to reminisce, he would probably find himself in the hospital room of Aster's brother or the hallways of the school. Neither was an option for him anymore. Aster wasn't the reminiscing type, but maybe Sandy was doing the same thing as he walked through the town with Pitch's workers on his heels. North might be walking the streets as well to kill time until the finale.

Things were coming to an end. Everyone had had a wonderful time, but everything has a conclusion.

-.-.-.-

**December 25. 12:52 AM**

"Bunnymund, stop!" Onyx yelled after him. Aster snorted, trying to resist the urge to turn around and laugh at her. They'd been running for a long time, and both had the endurance to keep this up for an even longer period of time.

"What makes ya think I'm slowin' down _now_?" he asked for the sake of conversation. It was rather amusing to hear her excuses for why he should stop. Among them had been her opinion that this was all for a wasted effort and that there was no way they could ever outrun Pitch's people.

"We got Sandy."

Aster glanced over his shoulder briefly. "I doubt it, but for the sake of conversation, what does that have ta do wi' anythin'?"

"Hand over the binders and we won't hurt him," Onyx replied. "We'll take them anyway, you know. There're many more of us than there are of you."

"There might be a slight problem with that…" He stopped abruptly and turned around to face her. Onyx skidded to a halt, looking at him suspiciously. Aster shouldered off the backpack and held it out to Onyx. She narrowed her eyes, expecting a trick, so he tossed it to her. She caught it and kept her gaze on him as she unzipped the bag and reached inside. With a snarl, she threw the bag back at him. He caught it easily and smirked.

"Where are the binders?" she demanded.

He shrugged. "Don't know. Took a fall an' lost 'em at some point. Feel free ta go back an' look for 'em if ya want."

Onyx shook her head. "No, you can't use the binders if they're lost. You would've picked them up. You know where they are."

"I don't. Or maybe I never had any ta begin with, huh? Consider that? Or maybe I gave them ta someone else while ya weren't lookin'."

"Bunnymund, just give me the binders!" Onyx yelled. "We are _minutes _away from catching Frost, too. Do you want _both_ of them to get hurt? They might even lose a few limbs." She stepped forward, but Aster folded his arms, unimpressed.

"Now I _know _you're lying," Aster said. "Get one of 'em? Maybe. Two? Not happenin'."

"Are you going to take that chance?"

"It's not a chance when I know ya haven't even been able ta stop ta talk ta anyone who coulda caught them. Look, ya better go back an' report ta yer leader that I haven't gotten any of the binders."

"We have Sandy," she repeated firmly. "You'll come with me if you ever want to see him alive again. Come on, it's not like there's anywhere else for you to go. You think Jack's going to stick around? He's going to leave town as soon as he can. He can't be arrested, that's for sure. He's leaving and there's nothing you can do to stop him. Besides, didn't he tell you about his plan to leave before all this began?"

Aster paused. "What?"

"His plan to leave. Didn't he tell you about the real reason he was at the river the day you had to pull him out?"

Aster's eyes narrowed. "What are ya talkin' about?"

Onyx raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so he didn't. Interesting. Anyway," she said as she turned away, "I need to go meet up with Pitch. He knows the full story too. Fascinating that Jack's enemies would know about it but not his closest friends. Well, his _only_ friends. But then, there's a reason for that, too."

Aster glanced back in the direction he had been going before turning to her with a stern expression. "You'll tell me what you're talkin' about if I go wi' ya?"

"Yes. Pitch knows more than I, and I'm sure he'd love to tell you all about it."

"Why do I have reason to believe ya'd tell the truth, even if ya did know?"

"Pitch has proof. Isn't it odd Jack decided to do all this _right now_, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Pitch was about to blackmail him with it. He's dragging you all into this to cover his mistake."

"We'd been plannin' ta do it soon for a while. He told us ya'd tried ta blackmail him, too."

Onyx laughed. "We figured something like that had been the case. This all seemed just a tad elaborate to be made up on the spot. Come on, you know you want to know what I'm talking about whether Jack had this all planned or not. He wouldn't have done it without an excuse, and it had to have been a pretty powerful one to make him move _this_ fast. Didn't he seem a little anxious to you?"

"For someone about ta run around on rooftops an' escape the police, he seemed normal enough."

"Hm, point taken. You coming?" She jerked her thumb in the new direction she was going. "I'm off to meet Pitch and Sandy since chasing you isn't going to help anything."

Aster paused, folding his arms for a moment. "What happens to me if I do?"

Onyx smiled and shrugged.

Aster rolled his eyes and gestured with one hand. "Fine, lead on. I'll have to get ta where Pitch is ta kick his butt for this mess anyway."

"Jack started it."

"No, Pitch did. Jack's just takin' out the garbage. Come on, stop gabberin' an' go."

-.-.-.-

a/n: I know you're all probably like "Dude, WTF are you doing," but hang on just a little longer. You'll see where I'm going with this, and suddenly, things will make a whole lot of sense.


	23. Chapter 23

**December 25. 1:20 AM**

Onyx started walking further into the forest. She checked her compass a few times, making sure she was heading in the right direction, and used landmarks to keep them on track. They went over several hills and a river, arriving at their destination twenty minutes later. Aster found himself by a pond. He was pretty sure this was the one Jack had nearly drowned in several years ago, but he wasn't entirely sure.

Pitch was on the other side, arms folded and leaning against a tree. Sandy was standing by the edge of the pond, glaring at Pitch. Surprisingly, there were no others in sight. Sandy must have come here of his own accord. He glanced over as Aster and Onyx came into view and began quickly shaking his head, gesturing for Aster to go away. Aster looked at him in confusion, frowning. Sandy turned and glared at Pitch again, more aggressive this time.

"Aster, it's so nice to see you," Pitch greeted.

"Feelin's _not_ mutual."

"Aster would like to know about Jack's little runaway attempt earlier," Onyx said, beginning to walk around the pond to stand by Pitch. The elder smiled, nodding to himself as if he had expected this. "He didn't believe for a second that we had caught Sandy."

"We didn't," Pitch told Aster honestly. "He came when we told him we'd tell Ana about a little secret of Jack's. Now, the runaway adventure-"

Sandy began waving his arms, gesturing for Aster to leave. The Australian frowned, but Sandy kept motioning for him to leave. He shot a look at Pitch, enough to convince Aster as to what was going on. "Hey, you're not usin' me ta blackmail anyone," he snapped, glaring at Pitch. He turned away, stalking off into the woods. "I'm not hearin' anythin' if it's gonna cause someone else trouble. Unless that someone's you, of course."

Pitch stared at his back as he walked away. He growled quietly to himself and then dug a ripped sheet of paper out of his pocket. "Even if it directly involves something that could come into your possession later?"

"If it's gonna come into my possession later, I don't really have ta worry about it now, do I?"

Pitch stepped forward, holding out the note in front of him so he could read it. "Sure you don't want to hear what this says?"

Aster waved him off and continued walking. Pitch took another step, but snarled abruptly in surprise as a wooden hook curled around his wrist and yanked him off balance. Pitch was jerked backwards, and he whipped around to see who his attacker was. Jack slammed his staff into Pitch's stomach, causing him to bend over. He then put both hands on the back of Pitch's head and threw his knee up into his face. Pitch shoved him away and backed off.

Jack twirled the staff, smirking. "Hey, Pitch, I'd like to hear what it says. Sharing is caring, as they say."

"See?" Onyx called over to Aster. "He _did_ show up."

"Were you expecting me, too?" Ana asked, stepping out into view between where Aster stood and where Pitch, Onyx, Jack, and Sandy all stood. "You don't seem to have enough planning to even know that all of this has just been a distraction."

"I think we know more than you do about what's going on," Onyx said.

Pitch gave her a look to shush and glanced around at the other four. "Where's the Russian? I doubt he would be the only one to avoid this little family get-together out in the middle of the woods."

"I know, right? Surprising that he hasn't shown up for the group therapy session but you did. So nice of you to accept the invite," Jack sarcastically replied. "Do you know where the rest of your little group went off to? Don't tell me some of them got _arrested_. That would be such a shame."

"Oh, shut up," Pitch snapped. "You say that like the police aren't going to be after you, too. This case can't go anywhere without your testimony, and they're not letting you get away if you stick around to give it." He gestured at someone out of sight in the trees. "No, I have enough people left for this ending."

Jack glanced to the side as someone appeared beside him, clearly there as a deterrent to stop him from doing anything. Four more appeared on the opposite side of the pond by Aster, who scowled at them. Three came out by Ana and another four to guard Sandy and Jack. A few more trickled into view, dropping the binders they had collected in front of Pitch and by the backpack. One of the teenagers by Jack moved behind him and snatched the last binder out of his bag and tossed it to Pitch. Another walked towards Sandy, but the smaller teenager took off the backpack and handed it to him to save effort. The backpack was thrown to the ground with the rest of the binders.

"A lot of effort to waste to just have all of them tossed away, isn't it?" Pitch said with a smirk. Jack folded his arms, remaining silent. "The best part is that we didn't even _force_ any of you to come. You all came here of your own will. My only question is how you two knew where to go," he said, glancing at Jack and Ana.

"Sandy maneuvered you over here," Jack replied. "If we were all going to be caught, it'd be better if we all went down together. I was running around making sure everyone was okay and realized something was wrong. I told Ana and we both started heading over here. I went to try and find North, but… I figure he's coming too."

"Could be lost," Pitch replied. "I don't know where he is either, actually. But it _is_ a big area out here and anything could've happened…"

Jack rolled one shoulder, working some of the soreness out of it from carrying the backpack for so long. "He'll be fine. The guy's practically built like a Cossack. I'm assuming you got us all here together to make a deal about something? Or are you just going to brag?"

"Jack, there will be _plenty_ of bragging. I beat you at your own game. Even my own guys never saw that coming," he said, shooting a challenging look at the closest of them. "You've been playing it for a long time, but every ruler has to step down. Your reign of strategy ends now."

"Just because you won once doesn't give you kingship over the whole area, idiot," Jack replied, rolling his eyes. "You're acting like we should start bowing and calling you our lord and master."

"Maybe you should," Pitch said, pulling out a matchbox. He opened it and took out a match. Jack watched as he struck it against the side and lit it before crouching down next to the binders. Pitch met Jack's gaze, smirking slightly. "What, not going to try to stop me?"

"And give you the satisfaction of watching one of your goons tackle me?"

Pitch shrugged and touched the flame to one of the papers sticking out of a binder. The fire began spreading, licking across the edges of the plastic above and the paper below. Pitch stood in the way of the wind, letting the fire more easily spread. He glanced over at Jack. "How are you planning on presenting a case without showing up yourself now? I don't know what you were thinking in the first place. I doubt coded math notes would have been a very good piece of evidence in a court case anyway."

The fire began spreading to the next binder, green flames beginning to rise from the top of the binders as the plastic began to burn. "Stay right where you are, Pitch," Jack muttered under his breath.

Pitch rolled his eyes and backed up. "What, so I can die from the toxic fumes?"

"It'd be a nice way to end the evening." Jack glanced at the night sky. "Well, the morning. You know what I mean."

"Right. How long did it take you to make all these binders anyway?"

Jack was quiet for a few seconds. "A few years," he finally said.

"Wow. Lot of work going to waste right now. It didn't have to be this way."

"It always did, you just never saw it. If you can't figure that out, then you're never going to win."

Pitch laughed and gestured at the quickly burning fire in front of him. "Jack, I've already won! You have no case! What do you think you can even gain from anything you've done tonight? Safety? No, you've put _everyone_ in danger now. Even if your sister leaves, she's never going to be able to find a haven again where I won't be able to find her. All your friends are going to be in town and it won't be hard to influence them to never do anything to support you again. It can't have been easy to run across town all night anyway, hm?"

"I'd do this again if the opportunity ever came up again," Aster snapped.

"Even if Lachlan were put in danger because of it?"

Aster gave a wordless growl, taking long strides to stalk around the side of the pond. The teenagers around him fumbled for a second, not expecting the sudden move and having trouble keeping up with his long paces. They were able to stop him after a few seconds, blockading his way. He gave them all a glare, as if they were all beneath him, but halted.

"You see, Jack, there's no way for you to stop me. Fear will rule the streets. With your fall, it'll be obvious there's not going to be anyone to even slow this down. Burgess isn't the only one that's going to be affected. The surrounding towns aren't the boundaries either. This will spread, hitting harder than the plague, until regions of the country are crippled by it."

"You know you're more likely to die as part of a crack gang than you are to die on death row, right? Well, in Chicago, at least."

"Frost, this will be a force stronger than any gang the world has ever seen."

"You're looking at quite a large scale for being such a small-timer right now."

"I already have my plans made. You can't stop me."

Jack sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, the other four having nothing to do with this. They don't even know everything or the extent of what I did while I worked with you. There's little they can testify to in court except for the idiocy of their friend. Let's make a deal. I _do_ have something that put up a stand in court, but it'll put only a few in jail. I'll hand it over and you let them go without harming them."

"That evens out. What's the information?"

Jack glanced over Pitch's shoulder and nodded. "North, hand over the box to him."

Pitch turned around, watching as North walked into view with the last of the binders in his backpack and a box in his hands. Two of Pitch's workers grabbed the last of the binders and threw them into the fire. North ignored them and the flames, holding out the box to Pitch. The senior smirked, taking it from him and shaking it as if it were a present. "Of course there was one last piece of evidence. What's in here anyway?"

"Open it up and find out." Jack subtly glanced over at Ana. She returned the look with a blank expression.

Pitch smirked and tore off the duct tape keeping it closed. He glanced at the small holes that had been punched into the box for a moment, shrugged, and then opened it up.

Baby Tooth flew out, hissing and snarling at the rough treatment she had endured. Pitch yelped, falling backwards onto the ice of the pond as the cat scratched at his face, screaming angrily. She clawed him open in several places, attacking the nearest thing.

Jack whirled around, smacking the closest teenager with his staff. The boy stepped backwards, holding his hands over his stomach. Another boy moved forward, but the staff swung and hit him across the back. North darted forward, snatching up a branch that had gotten caught in the flames. He charged forward, waving it at the five people around Sandy and Jack. They scattered, looking anxiously between Jack's staff and North's flaming branch. Aster grabbed the arm of the teenager in front of him and threw her sideways into the person next to her. The two tumbled to the ground as Aster stepped forward, punching a third person. The fourth tried to strike out, but Aster easily dodged and elbowed him in the gut. Ana simply gave the three around her a level look and they scattered.

Onyx moved forward, grabbing one of the half-burnt binders and tossing it at Jack. He barely ducked in time, having not seen that coming. He glanced back at her as she ran at him. North got in the way, slamming into her to knock her off course. Jack used the opportunity to wave his arms in the air, getting the attention of all of his associates. He then gestured for them to leave, smirking as he did so. They nodded, remembering the final part of the plan. Ana pointed at Baby Tooth and Jack nodded, again gesturing for her to go.

Almost as one, the five of them apart from Jack began to sprint away. The rest of the teenagers divided up, going after the nearest runner. Onyx stayed behind, moving towards Jack. He ignored them, jumping lightly onto the ice and running forward. He picked up enough speed to slide forward, crouching slightly with his staff outstretched. He caught Baby Tooth around the midsection and scooped her up. Baby Tooth wrapped her claws around the wood and climbed up it. He started running again, moving across the ice easily. Baby Tooth's claws dug into his arm and he winced, but pushed it out of his mind and kept moving. Onyx started running around the other side to try to intercept him but the ice was slick enough to propel him forward faster than she could go.

He hit the opposite side soon enough, with Pitch only halfway around the pond and Onyx just a little farther. The forest provided adequate enough cover a few seconds later as he darted into it. He could hear them behind him, but there were only two in comparison to the amount the others were facing. Aster would undoubtedly drop the four behind him within a few minutes, easily outdistancing them with his speed and agility. North had excellent short-term sprints and would lose his quickly as well. Ana could run for as long as she needed to and Sandy would slip away within seconds as he used his height to his advantage.

Baby Tooth climbed into his hood and nestled in there, all of her claws extended to grip the fabric tightly. The weight was a little unsettling, but it didn't provide a problem. A rock wall was rapidly coming up in front of him, too tall to jump over and would cause him to slow for a few seconds to climb over. He glanced behind at the distance between him and the other two and judged the chance too small to take. Instead, he raised the staff above his head with the hook above and caught a branch with it. He swung upward and curled his legs up. The staff slipped out of his hands as he landed on top of the rock ledge. It continued its rotation, twirling around the branch it had snagged once more. Jack reached out, grabbing hold of it as it swung back around. He glanced down at Pitch's and Onyx's frustrated expressions. With a smirk, he turned and ran off.

By the time they climbed up, he was already gone.

-.-.-.-.-

**December 25. 4:17 AM**

Pitch gave Onyx an exhausted look as they finally came to a stop by a car outside the police station. The rest who were scanning the forest for the five teenagers would meet back here as soon as they had finished searching their designated areas. It wouldn't take long to find them. Everyone who Pitch could contact was out looking. There was nowhere for them to hide.

"Those fools. Where do they think they're going to hide?" he asked. She shrugged, leaning against the car. "They don't have anything that can put any of us in prison. I'll bet they're just going to flee the area if they can get away. There's nothing they can do if they stay."

"Maybe Jack wanted this. Maybe he wanted to run away and didn't want to be alone."

"Not his style. No, I think he messed up. He's out of practice and couldn't account for everything this time. I'll admit we got lucky, but I'm glad it happened now and not later. It's good to get the big problems out of the way early on. We won't be seeing much of him again. As soon as we have someone free, we'll send out a group to the hospital to head to Bunnymund's brother's room. We can at least scare one of them out of hiding that way. We'll do the same to the others' families, but I'm not as sure about the results. I want you to go to the Bennett house in a few minutes and keep an eye out for Jack. He might suspect this and try to get his sister out before we can get to her."

Onyx nodded. "Did they really think they were going to be able to stop you? There are only five of them against all of us. It was ridiculous, really. Barely a contest. I think we need to get everyone to start training for something like this, though. If they had had more helpers, it could've worked. Our people were out of shape and uncoordinated. It was embarrassing on our part."

"There have been too many people joining to control them all," Pitch replied. "We'll need to learn to adjust to larger numbers soon, though. I'll make you my second in command. I can't control everyone alone, especially as this gets larger and larger."

"What are we going to do once we capture Frost and his friends?"

"We'll kill Frost and Bunnymund. Both are too unpredictable, too good at rallying others, and neither will have family who will miss them too much. Emma will just think her brother ran away rather than being sent into foster care. The other three can be controlled easily, I think."

"I'm not sure I agree as much. They all have pretty strong wills and you'll have just killed two of their friends after threatening their families."

"If they don't want any harm to come to said families, they won't do anything stupid," Pitch replied. "I think they'll come to see our strength and will not take much action against it. Fae will be the biggest issue in getting others to side with them. She did something of the sort a few weeks ago on accident. People trust her easily and take her side without much thought because of her nature."

"You think fear will be enough to stop them from doing much?"

"Fear is an excellent motivator, as you will learn as my second in command."

The door of the police department opened and a few officers stepped out. Pitch looked over and then away, deciding to stay quiet for a while. Most of the officers got into cars and began to drive away, probably off to their homes. One paused for a few seconds before walking over to the two of them.

"Excuse me, are you Pitch Black?" she asked.

Pitch glanced at her and then shrugged. "Yeah. I was just waiting for a friend here."

She nodded in understanding. Pitch turned his head, watching one of the cruisers drive away. "Shift change or something?"

"Or something." Cook grabbed his arm and spun him around to shove him against the side of the car. He swore under his breath as she began handcuffing him. "Pitch Black, you're under arrest for possession of controlled substances and assault."

"What are you talking about? I was with him the entire time!" Onyx said. Cook glanced at her and grabbed her wrist. Before Onyx could pull away, Cook started handcuffing her, too.

"Yes, I know. Jack warned me about what he was about to do and told me where I should stand for a good view. I got a great video recording of the entire thing at the lake. You wouldn't believe how much you spilled out in those ten minutes."

"You can't hold us for long without better proof," Pitch snarled.

"Oh, we do." Cook grinned as she began to lead the two inside. "See, all those police officers you just saw leave are on their way to arrest every single person known to have relations to you and your operation. Now, I don't think that should be your main concern."

"And what should be?" It didn't matter if he was arrested. He could probably get out pretty fast, using his contacts he had around the area. This was just a setback. This officer had no idea what she was doing was just a wasted effort.

"The fact that you turned eighteen a few months ago, so you're about to be tried as an adult."

-.-.-.-.-

a/n: My account started working again! Yay! Send happy thoughts to keep it working! (Don't know if that will work, but it's worth a try.)

The statistic about being more likely to die as part of a crack gang in Chicago than to die on death row is a fact I found in a book called _Freakonomics_.

Only the epilogue left, folks.


	24. Epilogue

**March 31**

The tutoring had surprisingly started on time. Mrs. Barrett, Mrs. Brendan, and Mr. Watson had continued the ideals of the five kids who had started it up. Students had flocked in, leaving behind any dirty dealings they may have made in the past with Pitch. Most of them had, and more than a few had seemed awkward at the beginning. The teachers had helped it evolve into a way for the students to get away from past problems and current troubles, which had allowed many of them to disregard misgivings and move on. A few students, including the ones who had stood up with Ana, had needed little help to fit in right away.

Emma had left before winter break had ended, shortly after the arrests had begun. Child services had deemed it wise to get her out of there before she was affected anymore by this. She and Jamie still talked, using the wonders of the internet. Emma mentioned several times that her aunt and uncle didn't want her talking to someone back at Burgess, but she didn't see any reason to tell them she hadn't stopped communicating with anyone. She seemed to be doing fine, but Jamie could tell she missed her old town a lot. Her brother was still a sore topic, made harder by what she didn't know.

Before Christmas Day had been over, police cars had scoured the entire town looking for anyone connected to Pitch. They had rounded up as many as they could, coming down hard on them in court. Many had been arrested and some had been tried in court. Others were able to make a deal, using information they knew to get out of a jail sentence. Unfortunately, Pitch was not one of those kids. Hardly a day after he had been arrested, the teenager had vanished from his cell and hadn't been seen since. It was a mystery as to how he had escaped.

As soon as that had been over, however, they had turned their sights on Jack and his friends. All their searches proved fruitless. The ice on the pond had a trail of bloody foot prints on it from someone who had been injured, but even that had disappeared. The police had multiple charges against them, including but not limited to breaking and entering, assault, resisting arrest, fleeing from the law, disturbing the peace, and possession of controlled substances (although Jack was the only one guilty of that).

They seemed to be mostly irritated about the vigilante efforts that had been performed. The police pulled out all the stops, from search dogs to expanding the search to the surrounding towns, but the search was called off when, not even a week after the event, a snow storm of Ice Age proportions hit the state. Jack and the others were presumed dead from exposure.

That was the driving reason for a lot of the kids to stop affiliation with Pitch. The story about what had happened to Jack and his friends and the lengths they had gone to so they could stop Pitch had spread around school fast (suspiciously fast if one listened to school conspiracy theorists). The five of them had given up their entire futures to end his rule, and had, in the end, given their lives. Even if they had ever tried to return, they would all have been arrested on the spot and could serve for years. The police had seemed pretty angry about their vigilante efforts and it didn't help that they had indeed broken multiple laws, but the storm had made them more sympathetic to the cause of the teenagers and made them even more relentless in court .Their parents – the _responsible_ ones, anyway – were bent out of shape over this, having never expected something like this to ever happen.

In two of the neighboring towns, there had been multiple cases of kids being attacked. All of them had had older siblings and had been attacked after dark, and said older siblings were being suspiciously close-mouthed. They obviously knew more than they let on, but the police couldn't get anything out of them. The officers had no clue what was going on, or why, although one possible pattern was that several of the older siblings were known to be former runners for Pitch.

It was surprising none of the kids had been hurt too badly, but all of them had reported in the newspapers he had read that they had gotten away somehow. It seemed odd that they had been able to outrun much older and faster teenagers, but he was still grateful they had been able to. The one thing all the unharmed victims had in common was that they had all fled into the forest rather than break for home.

-.-.-.-.-

Jamie sighed, realizing he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings for the last half hour. He was at a park, the one near the schools. His parents were supposed to pick him up in about an hour. Some of his friends had been with him while they had been searching the park for the Easter eggs, but either because of homework or chores they had all had to leave. There had been many more eggs this year than there had ever been before, to the excitement of all of them. It had taken them over an hour to find the last egg, but it had been so much fun and had let them set aside their fears for the day.

He stood up, stretching his arms above his head. He noticed that he had stopped paying attention a lot recently, ever since Jack had stirred the 'revolution' among the teenagers to disregard Pitch's business. It had been a brave thing the five of them had done, considering they must have known that they would have never been able to return home again after doing so.

Jamie started walking in the direction of home. He could save his parents the trouble of having to come pick him up, since there was no real point in him staying around here any longer.

He stopped suddenly, seeing someone leaning against a tree across the park from him. The shadows covered the figure and he couldn't tell who it was. Instead of worrying about it, he continued, taking a longer route to skirt around.

The figure didn't move until he was on the street, walking calmly towards his house. Then it started to move, trailing him by about twenty meters. Jamie picked up his pace and so did the figure. By the time he was at the next corner, he was running.

He shot a few glances over his shoulder a few times, trying to see who the pursuer was. On the fourth look, he finally was able to see who it was as they passed under a streetlamp. It was Pitch.

Jamie kept running, although the distance between them was rapidly decreasing. How had he managed to stay in town without being caught? What was Pitch after him for anyway? They had never even spoken to each other before now. If Pitch would be after anyone, it would be Jack, but he and his friends were dead.

He came to a stop a few feet before he reached the forest, turning back and facing Pitch. He held out both palms, trying to tell Pitch to stop. To his relief, the man slowed down and came to a stop, cocky as ever if his posture was anything to go by. "Okay, what's this about?" he called, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

Pitch shrugged. "What do you think it's about?" he asked, as if he actually cared.

Jamie tilted his head, trying to see Pitch better. "I don't know."

"You know where Emma Frost is."

Jamie stiffened, shaking his head. "I'm not telling you where she is."

"Oh?"

"She has nothing to do with what happened to you. She didn't have a clue Jack was planning on ruining your business. You have to leave her alone!" Jamie yelled, hands clenching into fists by his side.

"I _have_ to?" Pitch snarled, stepping forward. Jamie moved backwards, stumbling slightly. "You _will_ tell me where she is if you value the prospect of going back home in one piece."

"It's over! Jack's _gone_! Can't you just leave it to rest?" Jamie asked, stepping back again. Pitch advanced further. Jamie groaned, turned, and ran. He heard Pitch start after him but didn't slow down. The forest was dangerous in general because of the rough terrain, which was why he had been hesitant to come in. He knew, however, that he would be able to hide in here the easiest if he wanted to escape Pitch.

He jumped over a log and ran down a hill. It could have been his imagination, but he could have sworn he saw a binder lying in the underbrush. The branches scratched at his face and the harsh features of the land were not kind on his muscles as he ran. It was better than getting caught by the guy behind him, though. He could hear Pitch having a bit more trouble than he was, but that was probably because Jamie was specifically choosing the hardest route he could find. Most of these areas were just overgrown with bushes and branches, making it nigh impossible to get through…unless one was a child.

Jamie slid through a small hole in a clump branches that had fallen to the ground. Pitch had to stop and find a way around the pile, delaying him for a few more seconds while Jamie was able to pick up the pace and sprint ahead. He wasn't far enough ahead to even think about considering himself safe, though. Pitch began to catch up once more soon enough.

His breath came in short gasps and he began to slow, not able to keep up the pace much longer. He spied some boulders by the riverbank and headed towards them. Pitch was right behind him now, fingers grasping at the edge of his jacket. Jamie put on a final burst of speed, getting to the boulders and jumping on top. Pitch grabbed his leg, knocking him off balance. He fell into the space between two of the boulders, leg sticking awkwardly out. Pitch let go, surprised at his sudden drop, and Jamie pulled his leg in. The man climbed onto the boulders so he could look down into the gap. He snarled when he realized he could neither get into the gap nor pull Jamie out if the kid didn't want to go. He slammed his fist down on the rock.

"You have to come out at some point," Pitch said angrily.

Jamie shook his head. "They'll come looking for me before then," he said.

"I'll find a way to get you out before that can happen," Pitch snapped. He glanced around, starting to smirk. "Dropping a snake in there with you might do the trick."

Jamie grimaced but didn't reply. He tucked his knees in and rested his chin against them. Pitch disappeared, presumably to go find a snake or something else he could use to his advantage. Something rustled nearby as Pitch began his search. It was worth it for him to wait Pitch out to save Emma. He just wasn't sure he'd be able to do it. Pitch was right. There were ways to get him out of there whether he wanted to leave or not.

A head appeared above him and Jamie glanced away, not wanting to listen to anymore of Pitch's goading. He barely reacted as an arm reached into the gap, reaching for Jamie. It was long enough to grab onto the back of his jacket and started to pull him up. Jamie shook his head, spreading out his arms and legs to stop Pitch from dragging him out. "I am _not_-" He broke off as the arm released his jacket and a hand clapped over his mouth, silencing him.

"C'mon, ankle-biter, work wi' me a little, would ya?"

Jamie looked up in surprise. His eyes widened for a second as he saw Aster's familiar face, but he found himself grinning a second later. The Australian smirked back and reached in with both arms. Jamie allowed himself to be hoisted up and out of the rock. In a hushed tone, he said, "You're not dead! You guys have been here the entire time?! You never left?! Wait, were you the ones who saved the other kids?! And…and…and _you're not dead_! "

"I'm gonna be dead 'a old age before we get outta here. Is it really the time for Twenty Questions?" Aster muttered.

"You're going to leave as soon as I'm safe, so yes! Are you alright? Isn't it cold out here? They thought you guys died of exposure!"

"Jamie, let's just get ya outta here, okay?"

"Why didn't you leave?"

" 'Cause we wanted ta make sure Pitch didn't harm anyone if he got out. He's got a lotta power in the area an' we were afraid he might be released. Turns out it was a good idea ta stick around. Now come on, let's get ya home."

"Aster, what if he goes after more kids? I mean, the high school kids have stopped working for him and buying from him. What if he goes after their siblings to make them afraid again and make them think he's in charge? He's already done it to a few of them."

"We'll figure somethin' out." Aster paused, and then dropped down on one knee next to Jamie. "Hey, I've got an idea. Listen carefully, alright?"

Jamie nodded and listened.

He got home safely that night. A day or so later, he caught a glimpse of Pitch again. He looked like he had gotten into a fight with a wild cat and lost. He suspected Jack or North were responsible for it, but he didn't go up to ask. Pitch didn't try to approach him again for a while.

-.-.-.-.-

**April 2**

Pippa came up to Jamie at the end of the school day, nervous. Jamie frowned, noticing her posture and the expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked around to see if anyone was listening and then ducked her head down. "I think Pitch is starting things up again," she said in a quiet voice. Jamie nodded. "I mean, for real. It's going to be just as bad as it was before."

"Pippa, that's not going to happen."

"But it is! And…and I'm scared. I think he's going after the siblings of kids who used to do business with him. My older sister worked for him, remember? And I saw him outside my bus stop this morning!"

"Pippa-"

"You said he came after you two days ago, right? What if he comes after me?"

Jamie waved his arms, getting her attention. She quieted down. "Pippa, it's going to be alright. I didn't tell you how I got out of there, but I'm going to now. I think we should tell all the kids about it. They could be in danger too. I know how we can protect ourselves against Pitch."

She looked at him warily. "How?"

"Promise you'll help me tell others?"

"Yes, if it'll keep us safe. Now what is it?"

"If you're a child and you're in danger, you'll always be safe in the forest. It doesn't matter what you're running from, whether it's from bullies or-"

"Or Pitch?"

"Especially Pitch. The Guardians of the Forest will always protect the children."

"How can the forest protect us?"

"Not the forest, the _Guardians_."

"Who- Jamie, there's no one in the forest, not since…"

"You don't have to see them. Just know that they're there."

-.-.-.-.-

a/n: Tada! 'Tis done! …Rivers is complete, anyway. The tale of the Guardians, however, has just had its prologue. The story of the Guardians and Pitch Black shall be continued in Crosscurrent,of which the first chapter was just posted. So you can go read that one now too! You may have noticed that I didn't explain some things (like Nightlight's store), but that's because they were things leading up to events in Crosscurrent and not Rivers.

If you're wondering why the search dogs couldn't find them, it's because they were able to cut through rivers to hide their scent and the police were looking for them in other towns. They didn't expect that they would stay so close by.


End file.
